Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Day 3: Kamindu Stands Tall

Day 3 of the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium has become a slow, grinding arm-wrestle — exactly the kind of day that decides a Test match without ever looking dramatic. At the time of writing, Sri Lanka have reached 127 for 3 in 32.5 overs, still 308 runs behind Pakistan's 434 for 9 declared, with Kamindu Mendis unbeaten on 43 and Dhananjaya de Silva on 28. The pair have added more than fifty runs for the fourth wicket, and for the first time in this match, the visitors look settled rather than merely surviving.

That is the story of the morning so far: not a collapse, not a counter-attack, but a careful rebuild. After two days dominated by Pakistan's debutants and by bad light, Sri Lanka's two most experienced middle-order batters are doing the unglamorous work of saving a Test — and Pakistan, who need wickets before the weather closes in, know the clock is as much an opponent as the batters.

Kamindu and Dhananjaya steady the ship

Kamindu Mendis resumed on 40 not out and has carried his innings to 43 off 94 balls, with five fours. It has been a patient innings, built on leaving the good balls and punishing anything on the pads — one thumped straight drive off debutant Saqib Khan in the 26th over was the shot of the session. Alongside him, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sri Lanka's former captain and one of the most dependable batters in their side, has moved to 28 off 39 balls, playing with the freedom of a man who knows his team's situation demands runs, not just occupation.

Their partnership, worth 49 runs at stumps on Day 2 and now past fifty, is the first real resistance Sri Lanka have offered in this match. It matters because the arithmetic is still brutal. Sri Lanka need 235 runs to avoid the follow-on — the mark Pakistan would need them to fall short of before they could enforce it — and they are still 108 runs short of that safety line with seven wickets in hand. Every run this pair adds pushes Pakistan's declaration math further away and eats into the time Babar Azam has to force a result.

Kamindu, in particular, has made a habit of rescuing Sri Lanka from exactly this kind of position. Since his Test debut, he has been the batter Sri Lanka turn to when the top order fails, and his record of converting starts into big scores makes him the wicket Pakistan most want this morning. Dhananjaya, meanwhile, brings years of Test experience as a former captain, and his ability to sweep and use his feet against spin will matter more as the Rawalpindi pitch wears.

How Pakistan got here: five fifties and a debutant double strike

Pakistan's dominance was built on Day 1 and Day 2, and it was built by players few expected to carry the innings. Resuming on 281 for 5, Pakistan added 153 runs on the second morning before Babar Azam declared at 434 for 9 in 106.3 overs. No Pakistan batter reached a hundred — but five of them reached fifty, a spread of contributions that Sri Lanka's bowlers never managed to stop.

Saud Shakeel top-scored with 93 off 199 balls, falling seven runs short of a fifth Test century when Asitha Fernando had him caught behind. It was a typically composed Shakeel innings: more than five hours at the crease, nine fours, and a 96-run sixth-wicket stand with Ghazi Ghori, who made 48 off 72 balls. Debutant Arafat Minhas then provided the acceleration, striking 52 off 72 balls with nine fours and a six — his maiden Test fifty — before Dilshan Madushanka removed him. The other debutant fifties had come on Day 1: Tayyab Arif made 57, Mohammad Taha 51, and captain Babar Azam 50, with Azan Awais contributing 30.

For Sri Lanka, Asitha Fernando took 3 for 107 and Madushanka 3 for 108, but the attack could never apply sustained pressure. The declaration, with Saqib Khan unbeaten on nought and Razaullah out for 10 off 11 balls, was a statement of intent: Babar wanted an hour at Sri Lanka before tea, and his bowlers delivered immediately.

Debutant Saqib Khan, 31 and from Karachi, struck twice in his first spell to leave Sri Lanka 12 for 2 inside four overs. His maiden international wicket was the prized scalp of Dinesh Chandimal, caught by Salman Agha at second slip for 1 off three balls after a delivery angled in and straightened away. Mohammad Abbas, as ever, was relentlessly accurate and claimed the other early wicket. Saqib then broke the promising third-wicket stand by dismissing Lahiru Udara for 42 off 52 balls, and he finished the day with 2 for 54 in 10.1 overs. Abbas ended with 1 for 23 in 10 overs. At stumps, Sri Lanka were 114 for 3 in 27.1 overs, trailing by 320 runs — and the two not-out batters, Kamindu and Dhananjaya, were already the story.

The bad light problem — and the rain threat

If there is a villain in this Test so far, it is not a bowler or a batter. It is the Rawalpindi light. Play has ended early on both days because of bad light, with nearly 45 overs lost in total across the first two days. On Day 2, the players left the field at 4:21pm local time, and the umpires called stumps at 4:24pm after another light reading. Day 1 ended in similar fashion, around 4:20pm.

That matters enormously for the result. Pakistan lead by a huge margin, but a Test match is won in overs, not runs, and the lost overs are steadily shrinking the window in which Babar's side can bowl Sri Lanka out twice. The forecast makes it worse: rain is predicted for the last two days of the match, and the Cricbuzz commentary team noted on the morning of Day 3 that the weather "doesn't look great" for the final two days, with rain "likely to play spoil-sport". If the rain arrives as forecast, the draw — which the live win-probability models already rate well ahead of a Sri Lanka win — becomes a real threat to Pakistan's victory push.

For Pakistan, the implication is clear: they need wickets in clusters, and they need them today. If Kamindu and Dhananjaya bat through the first session and Sri Lanka pass the follow-on mark, Pakistan's path to victory narrows to a long second-innings grind against a wearing pitch and a shrinking clock. If Saqib, Abbas and the spinners can break this stand before lunch, the middle order — already without the injured Pathum Nissanka — will be exposed, and the follow-on will be firmly in play.

What to watch on Day 3

1. Kamindu's hundred chance. On 43 not out, Kamindu is the key. A century from him would not only take Sri Lanka past the follow-on but would change the entire complexion of the match, giving the visitors a first-innings total in the 300s and forcing Pakistan to bat again with a lead of under 150.

2. The spin question. Arafat Minhas bowled just one over for one run before stumps on Day 2, but his left-arm orthodox and the rest of Pakistan's spin options will become more important as the pitch dries and roughens. Dhananjaya's footwork against spin is a key sub-battle — he survived a close run-out chance in Minhas's first over on Day 2, when the bowler deflected a drive onto the stumps with Kamindu short of his ground, only for the third umpire to rule him not out.

3. Saqib Khan's second spell. The debutant's first spell (2 for 54) was the most eye-catching bowling of the match. His second spell, with the ball older and the batters set, will tell us whether he is a one-spell wonder or a genuine Test seamer. His dismissal of Chandimal — a ball that angled in and straightened — was the kind of delivery that troubles even set batters.

4. The declaration math. Even if Sri Lanka are bowled out today, Pakistan's second-innings declaration will be a judgement call balanced between the lead, the time remaining and the forecast. Babar's aggressive declaration at 434 for 9 on Day 2 showed he is willing to gamble for a result; expect the same instinct in the second innings, but with the rain radar firmly in mind.

5. The WTC context. This is the first of two Tests in the series, and both sides need the points. Pakistan sit ninth in the World Test Championship table on 4.63 percent, while Sri Lanka are seventh on 33.33 percent. A win here would be a major boost for the hosts; a draw, given the dominance they have shown, would feel like two points dropped. The second Test, originally scheduled for Lahore from November 17 to 21, has been relocated to Rawalpindi because of smog in Lahore, the PCB has confirmed — so the teams will stay at the same venue for the whole series.

Scorecard: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Rawalpindi

Pakistan 1st innings	Runs
Saud Shakeel c Kusal Mendis b Asitha Fernando	93
Tayyab Arif (debut)	57
Mohammad Taha (debut)	51
Babar Azam (capt)	50
Arafat Minhas (debut)	52
Ghazi Ghori	48
Azan Awais	30
Total: 434/9 declared (106.3 overs)
Asitha Fernando 3-107, Dilshan Madushanka 3-108

Sri Lanka 1st innings (at time of writing, Day 3)	Runs
Lahiru Udara c Ghazi Ghori b Saqib Khan	42
Dinesh Chandimal c Salman Agha b Saqib Khan	1
Kamindu Mendis not out	43*
Dhananjaya de Silva not out	28*
Total: 127/3 (32.5 overs), trail by 308
Saqib Khan 2-54, Mohammad Abbas 1-23

Pakistan U19s complete perfect group stage — semi-final on Thursday

While the Test match unfolds in Rawalpindi, Pakistan's Under-19s have quietly completed a perfect group campaign at the ACC Men's U19 Asia Cup in Oman. Defending champions Pakistan beat Nepal by 101 runs on Tuesday at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground, finishing top of Group A with three wins from three matches and a net run rate of 1.186.

Ahmed Hussain was the star of the Nepal win, scoring 89 off 73 balls and then taking 4 for 35 to be named Player of the Match. Pakistan posted 275 for 7 in 50 overs — captain Farhan Yousaf made 74, and Bipin Sharma took 3 for 58 for Nepal — before bowling Nepal out for 174 in 43.4 overs. Rohit Chand top-scored for Nepal with 37, while Mohammad Sayyam took 2 for 27.

Pakistan will now face Bangladesh in the first semi-final on Thursday, November 12, at the same venue. India booked the other semi-final spot by beating the UAE by 70 runs, and the final is scheduled for Saturday, November 14. Pakistan's campaign so far — a nine-wicket win over the UAE, a three-wicket win over India sealed by Zahoor's unbeaten hundred, and now a 101-run win over Nepal — makes them favourites to defend the title they won with a 191-run victory over India in last year's final.

The bottom line

Pakistan have dominated this Test for two days, but Tests are not won on dominance alone — they are won on wickets, and on time. Sri Lanka's fourth-wicket pair have given their side a foothold, the light is already stealing overs, and rain is circling the final two days. Day 3 is, as the old saying goes, the moving day of a Test match. By stumps tonight, we will know whether Pakistan are marching towards a series lead — or whether Rawalpindi's weather has rescued Sri Lanka.

Images: Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Babar Azam batting against Sri Lanka, July 2023 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, Nazly Ahmed); Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium under lights (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, Neweditorpk). Photos are illustrative and not from this match.

Sources: Cricbuzz live scorecard and commentary (Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Day 3); The News — "Saqib strikes twice as Pakistan keep Sri Lanka in check"; Sportradar live score (Sri Lanka 127/3, 32.5 overs); Najam Sports — Day 2 report; A-Sports — U19 Asia Cup semi-final line-ups confirmed; CricketWorld — Pakistan U19 beat Nepal by 101 runs.