Sultan of Swing does it once again

Pakistan lead 1-0 lead in the three-Test series. Akram, who won the man-of-the-match award was unbeaten on 20 and Younis, who made 32 not out, finished the match in style by hitting danger-man Muralitharan for two sixes in one over.

The off-spinner had earlier given Sri Lanka an outside chance of winning when he snapped up the wickets of Yousuf Youhanna and Mohammad Wasim in the first over after the tea break. He then accounted for Inzamam-ul-Haq four overs later to have Pakistan struggling at 66 for 4. Skipper Moin Khan added 23 for the fourth wicket with Akram before falling leg before wicket to Nuwan Zoysa, but Akram and Younis kept their heads to carry Pakistan to victory.

The Test turned out to be a personal triumph for the 34-year-old veteran Akram even though it was a disappointment for the hosts. He became Test cricket’s fourth bowler to take 400 wickets on Friday, and Saturday finished off the Sri Lankan second innings with figures of five for 45 to add to his first innings score of 78.

Before Akram came on to bowl, it was medium pacer Abdur Razzaq who unsettled the Sri Lankan batsmen with a superb morning spell which should have brought him more than the wicket of Aravinda de Silva. Akram, who replaced him, was fired up when Sri Lanka umpire Cyril Cooray refused a confident leg before call against tailender Nuwan Zoysa when he was on 13.

The angry Akram did not collect his cap from the umpire at the end of the over, but asked one of his team members to do so.

Sri Lanka went to lunch at 117 for seven and were dismissed 30 minutes after the resumption when Akram produced a deadly spell to take three wickets for six runs off 21 balls. He sent back Chaminda Vaas (20) and Zoysa (13), to be poised on a hat-trick. But Muthiah Muralitharan edged the third ball to long leg for two.

Akram however had the final say when he got through the defences of Dilhara Fernando to take five wickets in an innings for the 25th time in his 96-Test career. Supporting Akram was off-spinner Arshad Khan who finished with figures of three for 30 for match figures of seven for 92.

SRI LANKA: (1st innings) 273
PAKISTAN: (1st innings) 266

SRI LANKA: (2nd innings)
M Atapattu c Anwar b Arshad 40
S Jayasuriya lbw Waqar 8
R Arnold c M Wasim b Akram 1
A de Silva c Inzamam b Razzaq 21
M Jayewardene c M Wasim b Arshad 1
A Ranatunga c Anwar b Akram 7
R Kaluwitharana c Younis b Arshad 6
C Vaas c&b Akram 20
N Zoysa c Inzamam b Akram 13
D Fernando b Akram 0
M Muralitharan not out 3
Extras (lb-1, w-1, nb-1) 3
Total (all out, 61.3 overs) 123
Fall of wickets:1-14, 2-25, 3-67, 4-71, 5-73, 6-82, 7-88, 8-120, 9-120

Bowling: Waqar 9-3-21-1, Akram 15.3-1-45-5 (1nb, 1w), Razzaq 14-6-23-1, Arshad 22-8-30-3, Mushtaq 1-0-3-0.

PAKISTAN: (2nd innings)
S Anwar c Fernando b Zoysa 6
M Wasim lbw Muralitharan 30
Y Youhana b Muralitharan 11
Inzamam c Arnold b Muralitharan 13
W Akram not out 20
Moin Khan lbw Zoysa 11
Y Khan not out 32
Extras (b-4, nb-4) 8
Total (5 wkts, 42 overs) 131
Fall of wickets:1-19, 2-51, 3-52, 4-66, 5-89

Bowling: Vaas 8-3-20-0, Zoysa 13-1-38-2, Muralitharan 17-3-53-3 (3nb), Fernando 3-0-14-0 (1nb), Arnold 1-0-2-0.