Sri Lanka's De Silva scores ton in Pakistan's rain-hit Test

In the historic Test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the island nation’s middle-order batsman Dhananjaya de Silva registered a century on the fifth and final day in Rawalpindi on Sunday (December 15).

The home side’s first international match on their own land in a decade was rain-hit for the most part after the tourists won the toss and batted on the final day.

Sri Lanka declared their first innings at 308-6 after 20 minutes of batting on day five as the rain-affected Test is set to end in a draw after almost three days of play were lost.

The 28-year-old right-hander remained unbeaten on 102 after 241 minutes of batting, having come at the score of 127-4 on Thursday (December 12). He hit 15 boundaries, including the century-marking four runs for which he drove paceman Mohammad Abbas to cover the ropes to complete his sixth Test hundred in his 28th Test.

Also read: Fourth day’s play called off in historic Pakistan Test 

Dilruwan Perera remained unbeaten on 16 and supported the middle-order centurion well.

Any hopes of a result in Pakistan’s historic Test have been dashed by rain and bad light which ended the first days play after 68.1 overs. Only 18.2 overs were possible on day two, 5.2 on the third and the fourth day’s play was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The pick of the Pakistan bowlers were 16-year-old pace bowler Naseem Shah who took 2-92 and Shaheen Shah Afridi with 2-58.

The Test is the first in Pakistan since a militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus killed eight people in March 2009, leading to the suspension of international cricket in the country as foreign teams refused to visit over security fears.

The second Test is in Karachi from December 19.

(With inputs from agencies)