Sri Lanka fold for 96; Pakistan need 317 to level series

Pakistan 262 (Haris 56, Dilruwan 3-72, Herath 3-84) and 0/0 need 317 to beat Sri Lanka 482 and 96 (Kusal Mendis 29, Wahab 4-41, Sohail 3-1)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Sri Lanka’s second-innings collapse continued into day four, as Pakistan dramatically raised their chances of squaring the series. The visitors now have 317 runs to defend, and will no doubt be haunted by the memory of that epic Pakistan chase in Pallekele two years go, where 377 runs were almost casually hunted down.

They will also know that Pakistan have the momentum. Though they had bossed the game in the first innings, being skittled for 96 by a Pakistan attack missing Mohammad Amir, and effectively had a three-man frontline attack could give them a few headaches.

Having been the primary architect of Sri Lanka’s slide late on day three, it was Wahab Riaz who broke through first on Monday. Niroshan Dickwella begun his innings with two fours off the first three balls he faced, and as ever, seemed eager to score. He survived a close bat-pad shout off Yasir Shah. Though he seemed comfortable against Wahab, hitting two offside boundaries in the 19th over, he would fall attempting a third.

Playing a drive to a ball angled across him from around the wicket, he managed only to get an edge to the delivery. Sarfraz Ahmed took an outstanding one-handed catch, diving to his left. Dilruwan Perera was out soon after, pinned in front of the stumps by a Yasir flipper.

Rangana Herath had brief success with his rapid sweeps and reverse sweeps, and he seemed to be settling into a remedial partnership with Kusal Mendis, but all this was upset by Haris Sohail’s arrival to the bowling crease. Aiming another sweep off Haris’ first ball, Herath managed only to top edge it to short fine leg. Three balls later, Mendis himself was out, also top-edging a sweep. This one went high in the air and was caught by the keeper. Nuwan Pradeep lasted only two balls, and Sri Lanka only 11.3 in the day.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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