SL vs PAK 1st Test: Awards list, match stats, Man of the Match as Pakistan beat Sri Lanka take 1-0 in Galle

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Pakistan kicked off their World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 campaign on a winning note after beating Sri Lanka by four wickets in the first Test at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday.

Chasing 131 runs, Sri Lanka achieved the target in the first session of Day 5 but only after losing the wickets of captain Babar Azam (24), Saud Shakeel (30) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (1). Pakistan had ended their Day 4 at 48/3. Imam-ul-Haq top-scored for Pakistan in the first innings with 50 runs off 84 balls.

Sri Lanka left-arm Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya picked eight wickets in the match including a four-wicket haul in the second innings. Ramesh Mendis picked six wickets including a five-fer in the first innings.

However, all these bowling efforts were overshadowed by the first innings double hundred from Pakistan middle-order batter Saud Shakeel. He slammed unbeaten 208 runs off 361 balls after Pakistan were reduced to 101/5 in reply to Sri Lanka's first innings total of 312. The innings helped Pakistan post 461 and get a 149-run first innings lead.

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan 1st Test Awards

Player of the Match: Saud Shakeel

Pakistan's 27-year-old batter Saud Shakeel was adjudged Man of the Match for his 208 unbeaten runs in the first innings. The southpaw scored 30 off 38 in the second innings.

"We are skilled in how to play the sweep and reverse sweep shots, and we knew we needed to execute it well. I'm from Karachi and I'm used to playing a lot of spin there," he said after winning the award.

Who said what?

Babar Azam's reaction after winning SL vs PAK 1st Test

"When you win a match, it gives to confidence. All credit to these youngsters for the way they performed. We lost early wickets, and then the way Saud and Agha played totally changed the game. You need that kind of partnership, and that really pleased me. It's not easy to bat in Galle, but the way Saud's playing is outstanding, and I wish him luck for the next game," Babar Azam said after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in the first Test in Galle.

Dimuth Karunaratne's reaction after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by four wickets

"Once we won the toss, we knew how good their fast bowlers are. We needed to see off that opening spell but we lost a few wickets. We bowled really well in patches, but then we start leaking runs. Overall, the bowlers did really well, but we dropped a few catches and that cost us. We have to assess what went wrong and come back again. We need to support him (Dhananjaya) as his fellow batters," Karunaratne said.

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan 1st Test Match Stats

• Saud Shakeel's Test batting average of 90.89 is the second best after Don Bradman (Minimum 10 innings)

• Shakeel became the first Pakistan batter to score a double hundred in Sri Lankan. He also joined Sachin Tendulkar, Joe Root and Virender Sehwag in an elite list of batters with Test double hundreds in Sri Lanka.

• Pakistan left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi became only the 18th Pakistan bowler to take 100 Test wickets