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Pakistan win series after drawn Test
Pakistan clinched the three-Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 after the third and final cricket match ended in a draw at Sharjah stadium here on Monday.
Persistent rain wiped out play in the pre-lunch session — a two hours and 35 minutes delay — which left Sri Lanka with little time to enforce a win despite declaring their second innings at 181-6, setting Pakistan a target of 255 in a possible of 61 overs.
By tea, Sri Lanka had taken three early wickets and were pressing for a win. Pakistan lost a further fourth wicket when opener Taufiq Umar fell for 39, before they finished at 87-4 when umpires called off the match four overs earlier due to bad light.
Skipper Misbah-ul Haq (nine) and Asad Shafiq (seven) survived some anxious moments to salvage a draw. Pakistan won the second Test in Dubai by nine wickets after the first in Abu Dhabi ended in a draw. The result kept Pakistan on the sixth ranking, as they needed a 2-0 victory to jump one place up and replace Sri Lanka on fifth.
Pakistan started positively before losing Mohammad Hafeez (13), Azhar Ali (seven) and Younis Khan (11) in the space of 37 runs. Hafeez had struck a boundary in the first over by Chanaka Welegedara but fell in an unwise manner, run out after taking a sharp single as he failed to beat a direct throw from mid-wicket by substitute Lahiru Thirimanne.
Ali, who scored a maiden hundred in the second Test, was trapped leg-before wicket by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath before Younis played an uppish drive off Welegedara and was caught at mid-on.
Brief Scores: SL: 413 and 181 for 6 declared drew with Pakistan: 340 and 87 for 4 (Taufeeq Umar 39; Herath 1 for 22)
‘Concentrate on cricket’
Former Pakistan Test coach Waqar Younis has advised flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi to keep his mouth shut and focus on performing well as a cricketer.
In an unusually hard-hitting interview to Geo News in Dubai, Waqar said Afridi needs to rethink his priorities as a senior player. "All the time he is criticizing somebody and using distasteful language. It is time he just kept his mouth shut and focused on his cricket," Waqar said. "To me it seems as if he always on the lookout for cheap publicity by making unwarranted and unhealthy comments about somebody or someone,” he added.
The dispute between Waqar who was than coach of the national team and Afridi who was captain of the one-day team became public after the Pakistan team's tour to the West Indies in May with the latter accusing the former of interfering in his domain as captain.
The dispute became more serious after Afridi announced his retirement in protest after being removed as captain by the Pakistan cricket Board for breaching the code of conduct by speaking on team affairs in public.
In the last few months, Afridi kept on criticizing the former PCB chief Ijaz Butt and Waqar. Afridi only recently announced his availability for the national team and has been picked in the national squad for the one-day series against Sri Lanka this month.
Waqar who had stepped down as coach after the Zimbabwe tour in September is presently doing commentary in Dubai for the Pakistan and Sri Lanka series.
Waqar said Afridi has problems with everyone. “For months now he has been criticizing Ijaz Butt and saying all sorts of things like Butt is old and he should go home, this is not the way to talk about a former player and head of the board. He has problems with everyone and wants the world to believe he is the victim,” Waqar said.
