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Manchester, Port of Spain and now, Colombo. Rain has become Test cricket’s biggest enemy in recent times. On Day 2 of the ongoing second Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the visiting team was expected to take a lead and strengthen it after a dynamic start with the bat. However, due to the rain, they rather enjoyed a quiet day on the Lankan shores.

Pakistan barely got to bat on Day 2 but they managed to take a lead. Abdullah Shafique continued to dominate in the limited time he got to bat while Pakistan skipper Babar Azam looked solid in his approach. Despite losing two wickets, the visiting team didn’t look shaken and continued to dominate Sri Lanka’s bowling attack, which barely managed to keep up with the momentum.

Notably, batting first, the Dimuth Karunaratne-led side started in a terrible fashion as they got bundled out for 166 runs. Dhananjaya de Silva was the only one that looked determined in the middle but no other cricketer could support him in the middle. Dinesh Chandimal tried his best but he too couldn’t continue for long. 

Meanwhile, with the ball, Abrar Ahmed was phenomenal, picking up four wickets while ace pacer Naseem Shah picked up three and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up one. Now, Pakistan will be hoping to start the next day really strong as they would be eager to get the job done in order to stay in the race to qualify for the World Test Championship, eventually.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, need something really special with the ball on Day 3. They have already suffered a defeat in the first Test and cannot afford a clean sweep as they too would be hoping to stay relevant in the race for the WTC final. Last year, they were pretty close to achieving that but missed it by a whisker and will be hoping to get the job done this time around.