Solid start for Sri Lanka in 1st Test

ABU DHABI: Sri Lanka´s Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Perera made a strong start after being sent in to bat by Pakistan on Tuesday´s opening day of the first test, reaching 66-1 at lunch.

Sri Lanka showed no rust after a nine-month break from test cricket, and coped well after being sent in on a pitch expected to favor Pakistan´s three pacemen.

Karunaratne hit five fours in his 38 before Asad Shafiq took a brilliant catch off the bowling of Junaid Khan to remove him.

Perera made it through to lunch on 20 not out while Kumar Sangakkara was on 8.

Pakistan gave debuts to opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad and fast bowler Bilawal Bhatti while Sri Lanka, which last played a test against Bangladesh in March, awarded test cap to offspinner Sachithra Senanayake.

Karunaratne was quick to punish any overpitched delivery and Sri Lanka scored a brisk 50 runs in the first hour off fast bowlers Junaid Khan, Bhatti and Rahat Ali.

Pakistan also lost one of its two television referrals when they thought Khan had found the outside edge of Perera bat for a catch to wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal when Perera was on 20, but TV umpire Sundaram Ravi upheld the onfield umpire Bruce Oxenford´s not out decision.

Karunaratne´s departure slowed down the scoring rate considerably with Sangakkara and Perera watchfully negotiating the last half an hour.

Sri Lanka, which lost the one-day series 3-2, is also strengthened with the return of leftarm spinner Rangana Herath and experienced Mahela Jayawardene.

Herath has 51 test wickets against Pakistan in 12 test matches and skipped the one-day series due to death of his mother earlier this month while Jayawardene was given paternity leave.

Mohammad Hafeez, who scored three centuries in the one-day series, forced Pakistan to leave out middle-order batsman Azhar Ali for the first time since he made his test debut in 2010 and played in Pakistan´s all 31 test matches. (AP)