Dhananjaya De Silva Helps To Recover After Shaheen Shah Afridi’s Starting Spell

Shaheen Shah Afridi was back to doing what he does best, taking early wickets as the pacer ran through Sri Lanka’s top order in the morning session of the first Test in Galle.

Shaheen Shah Afridi

Shaheen Afridi last played a friendly almost a year ago, against Sri Lanka in Galle. A year later, after several injury-related setbacks, he’s back on the same ground and facing the same opponent and it looks like Afridi still hasn’t done anything wrong.

The left-arm quick has remained stranded at 99 Test wickets since July of last year, but it didn’t take long for him to hit the milestone. Indeed, by the second over of his return, Afridi became the 19th bowler from Pakistan to win 100 wickets in Test cricket.

Far from shooting at top speed, Afridi worried the batters with incredible movements in the air and off the field.

Sri Lankan Batting

Sri Lanka opener Nishan Madushka was the victim, unable to cope with the angle and movement Afridi produced. The 23-year-old added two more wickets in his eight-over opening game and set up Kusal Mendis for second place before knocking out the powerful Dimuth Karunaratne.

Shaheen Shah Afridi Reached To 100 Test Wickets

At the age of 23, only two other Pakistani bowlers had managed the feat of 100 Test wickets – Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Akram, who is Pakistan’s all-time all-time wicket-taker in Test cricket, welcomed Afridi after reaching his 100-wicket milestone.

After Afridi’s early forays, Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva built an incredible 131-man partnership to lead Sri Lanka’s defense. The partnership ended in one fell swoop as Abrar defeated Ahmed Mathews, who came back for 64, leaving Sri Lanka’s aggregate score at 185/5.

The last session of the day was interrupted by rain. On either side of the break, Dhananjaya and Sadeera Samarawickrama added a crucial 57 run streak for the sixth wicket.

As the Stumps approached, Imam-ul-Haq grabbed a stunning catch and finished the standing while Sri Lanka finished the day at 242/6 while Dhananjaya de Silva was still undefeated at 94.