Reverting to the day s play, if the Sri Lankan bowlers did everything right and the fielders supported them brilliantly, Pakistan stroke-makers did everything wrong. Saeed Anwar, after being tied down by Vaas, provided Arnold with some catching practice, Aamir Sohail barely made his presence felt before edging a Vaas delivery to Kaluwitharana. Wasti literally guided Wickremasinghe s outswinger into the hands of Arnold which left Pakistan reeling at 59 for three after being 44 without loss. Inzamam and Youhana repaired the damage by adding 66 runs but again poor stroke selection brought the downfall of the batsmen. Inzamam tried to flash a wide delivery to be caught at second slip, Youhana failed to read Muralitharan s drifter, Younis Khan s uncomfortable stay ended when he was beaten by Wickremasinghe s slower delivery and Moin Khan perished while trying to throw caution to the wind and being caught by little Kalu.
Rest is all history.
But credit cannot be taken away from Sri Lankan bowlers for forcing Pakistan batsmen to play irresponsible shots. And they were not disappointed by the Pakistanis. All the batsmen, except Sohail, occupied the crease long enough but failed to put decent scores against their names. Anwar faced 49 balls, Wasti 66 deliveries, Haq 96, Youhana 77 and Younis Khan 55. But they forget that its not the balls faced that go into the scorebooks.