The Pakistan spinners got in on the act after pace duo Umar Gul and Junaid Khan ripped through the Sri Lankan top order to leave the tourists reeling on 176 for eight at tea on the first day of the second test on Wednesday. Gul extracted enough movement off the Dubai International Cricket Stadium pitch to trouble the batsmen throughout his marathon 10-over opening spell, picking up three wickets before lunch. Left-armer Junaid kept up the pressure and took the remaining two wickets to fall before the interval after Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan had won the toss. Tail-enders Chanaka Welegedara (15) and Rangana Herath (6) were the not out batsmen for Sri Lanka. Kumar Sangakkara, double-centurion in the drawn first test, was dropped on 27 off Saeed Ajmal by Taufeeq Umar and added 54 for the sixth wicket with debutant wicketkeeper-batsman Kaushal Silva (20) to stop the rot.
Off-spinner Ajmal and fellow spinner Abdur Rehman combined to take three more wickets in the afternoon session to put Paksitan firmly in control. Sangakkara, who looked solid and hit 11 boundaries during his knock of 78, holed out in the deep attempting a big hit against Ajmal. Sri Lanka got off to a bad start when opener Lahiru Thirimanne fell lbw to Gul in the third over, before the lanky paceman struck twice in the ninth over to remove Tharanga Paranavitana and Mahela Jayawardene.
Junaid removed captain Dilshan and Angelo Mathews to compound Sri Lanka's misery. Pakistan made one change to their side, dropping paceman Aizaz Cheema in favour of Rehman. Sri Lanka suffered a major blow before the match when wicketkeeper-batsman Prassana Jayawardene was ruled out for the remainder of the series due to a stomach injury. Paceman Nuwan Pradeep was also dropped from the Sri Lanka team and was replaced by Dhammika Prasad. Pakistan are playing "home" tests in the Gulf region because of security fears in their own country. The third and final match will be played in Sharjah from November 3.
