Image Credit- AFP
With the opposition in tow, Sri Lanka dismissed the
opening pair from Afghanistan with a green-tinged deck. Rahmat Shah, though,
was the driving force behind Afghanistan’s resistance. He and rookie Noor Ali
Zadran shared a 57-run partnership for the second wicket before Rahmat Shah and
Shahidi put on 33 to send the visitors to lunch at 90 for 2, with Shah scoring
48 not out of 79 balls.
Due to their captain’s unusual decision to field up to
three frontline seamers after placing a large wager on early wickets, the Sri
Lankan seamers would be frustrated with their morning’s work. In previous SSC
Tests, only one frontline seamer was included in the starting XI, and even
then, they were little used. The finest among them was Asitha Fernando, who
dismissed the dangerous Ibrahim Zadran on the second ball and went on to bowl
eight overs in the opening session at a cost of just twelve runs.
Less remarkable was Vishwa Fernando. His struggles to
maintain a tight line outside the stumps cost him thirty runs in his six overs.
Additionally, Chamika Gunasekara, who was selected in this XI ahead of Kasun
Rajitha, had a nervous debut performance. Outside the off stump, Gunasekara
miscalculated in length and line, which gave Noor, in particular, the
opportunity to hit him square through the off side. He only bowled one
four-over period, giving up 28 runs, but in between the loose balls he did
occasionally threaten Noor’s outside edge.
While Noor, who was playing in his maiden Test match
but was an experienced white-ball player, attacked from one end of the pitch
early in the session, smashing two fours off three Gunasekara balls, Rahmat was
more willing to keep things moving along, though he also rarely let scoring
opportunities pass him by.
Since the surface did not provide the kind of seam
movement that Sri Lanka would have anticipated, neither hitter had any
particular trouble scoring runs. Rahmat was particularly skilled at punishing
length errors. He ran his first boundary all the way to third, then several
overs later, he played a crunching straight drive for four runs, then blasted
Prabath Jayasuriya’s spin through square leg for another boundary. As lunchtime
drew near, he twice travelled down the pitch to toss Jayasuriya over his head.
He was unwavering in his defence.
Shahidi faced 23 balls for his 11 not out at lunch.
Last over of the morning, he pulled Asitha straight into Nishan Madushka at
short leg, but the shot was hit with enough force that Madushka was taking
evasive action, and the deflection off his pads eluded him.