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Karachi: Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera hit punishing hundreds to lead Sri Lanka's run charge against Pakistan on the opening day of the first Test here on Saturday as the tourists reached 406-3.
The first day has clearly been Sri Lanka's day. The partnership between Sangakkara and Warnapura set the tone and the rest then took over. Pakistan dropped three catches, all off Mahela, and the lack of match practice, given the fact that they hadn't played a Test in 14 months, showed on the field today.
Mahela Jayawardene became the first Sri Lankan to score 8000 Test runs during his unbeaten 136 on the opening day in Karachi.
They were rusty, Kaneria proved largely ineffective, Sohail Khan impressed in bits on debut but struggled for the most part and bowling first on a placid pitch didn't help either. Mahela became one of at least ten players to score a century against every Test playing nation, and more importantly, returned to form after going through a lean patch in ODIs.
Sri Lanka are in a position to dictate terms from here on and with the pitch behaving the way it is at this point, the hosts are staring at a massive first innings score.
Samaraweera was in even better form as he struck 21 fours on his way to an emphatic 155-ball unbeaten 130. Jayawardene and Samaweera put on 229 runs in an unbeaten fourth wicket partnership.
The Sri Lankan skipper was unbeaten on 136 his 25th Test hundred, while Samaraweera notched 130 not out for his eighth hundred after the tourists won the toss and decided to bat.
Brief Score: Sri Lanka 406 for 3 (Jayawardene 136*, Samaraweera 130*) v Pakistan.
