Following Pakistan’s stunning third Test win on Tuesday, Sport360 looks at the statistical highlights that occurred as the visitors secured a 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka in Pallekele.
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** The Pallekele Test was the only the second in which either Kumar Sangakkara or Mahela Jayawardene played without the other. The only other occasion was played from 28-31 July, 2002 against Bangladesh in Colombo.
** Washington born Jehan Mubarak made his comeback to the Test side after more than 7 and half years. He last appeared at Colombo SSC against England in December 2007. Interestingly, he made his Test debut way back in July 2002 – the very same Test in which both Sanga and Mahela did not play (see above).
** Mubarak has so far missed 63 Test matches for Sri Lanka since his last outing, only Malinga Bandara waiting more Tests (69) for a recall to the Sri Lanka side in December 2005.
** Angelo Mathews, playing in his 49th Test, was Sri Lanka’s most experienced player in Pallekele. Suranga Lakmal was the second most experienced player in the side in his 24th Test match. This was the first time in 16 years Sri Lanka were playing a side without any of their players with 50-plus Test caps. The last such occasion came at Harare in December 1999 when Muthiah Muralitharan (48), was the most experienced player in the drawn Test.
** The combined number of matches played by the Sri Lankan side was 212, their lowest since the Colombo Test against Bangladesh mentioned above, when their combined matches aggregated was just 182.
** Misbah-ul-Haq has now won the toss in all the three Tests in this series. The last Pakistan captain to do so in a Test series was Mushtaq Mohammed against New Zealand (in Pak) in 1976/77 – nearly 39 years ago.
#YounisKhan & #Misbah show class is permanent; superb #ShanMasood too – will help him know he belongs & perfect answer to doubters #SLvsPAK
— Brian Murgatroyd (@murgersb) July 7, 2015
** This was Younis Khan’s 29th Test match against Sri Lanka, making him the Pakistani with most Tests against a single opponent. Previously Javed Miandad had appeared in 28 against India from 1978-1989.
** Yasir Shah’s 61 wickets make him the most successful leg-spinner in Test history after their first ten outings. Australian leggie Clarrie Grimmett is now in second after claiming 57 wickets in his first ten Test matches from March 1925 to June 1930.
** However, Yasir Shah’s 61 wickets just fell short of the 62 wickets claimed by West Indian left arm spinner Alf Valentine, who still has the most wickets by any spinner after his first 10 Tests. The overall record after 10 Tests is 71 wickets by England quick Tom Richardson way back in 1897.
** Younis Khan’s run out in the first innings was his sixth in Test cricket. Now only Javed Miandad (8) and Wasim Akram (7) have been run out more times for Pakistan in Tests. Incidentally, it was his first run out in eight and half years. His last such dismissal was in November 2006, against the West Indies at Karachi.
** With five stumpings in the series, Sarfraz Ahmed equals the Pakistan record for the most in a Test series. Salim Yousuf also made five stumpings against Australia (in Pak) during the three match series that ran from Sept-Oct 1988.
** Yasir Shah’s 24 wickets in the series is the second highest by a visiting bowler in Sri Lanka. Only Australian Shane Warne, with 26 wickets in 3 Tests in 2003/04, has taken more.
Man of the Match is Younis Khan and Yasir Shah is the Player of the series #SLvPAK
— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) July 7, 2015
** Younis Khan is now the second visiting batsman to aggregate 1,000-plus runs on Sri Lankan soil. He now has 1,172 runs which is the most by a touring batsman in Sri Lanka, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 1,155.
** Khan also became the first Pakistani to make 1,000+ runs in two foreign countries, adding to the 1,975 he has scored in the UAE. He also has 1,898 runs in Pakistan.
** Dhammika Prasad, who won the Man of the match award in the previous Test in Colombo, became the second Sri Lankan to bag a “King pair” (ducks first ball in both innings) in Tests after Rangana Herath, who also achieved the dubious distinction against Pakistan at Sharjah in January, 2014.
** Prasad, meanwhile, became the 17th Sri Lanka player to take 50 wickets in his 20th Test match having made his debut in August 2008.
** Prasad’s new ball partner, Suranga Lakmal went on to become the 18th to 50 wickets in his 24th Test match. He made his Test debut two years after Prasad in November 2010.
** Shan Masood (125) became the first Pakistani left-hander to score a Test century in the fourth innings of a Test match, the previous highest being Salman Butt’s 92 against Australia at Lord’s in July 2010.
“Pakistan deserved to win and they played better cricket than us” – Angelo Mathews #SLvPak pic.twitter.com/KUMCjHCwS3
— ICC (@ICC) July 7, 2015
** The record third-wicket stand of 242 between Masood and Khan was Pakistan’s highest for any wicket in the fourth innings of a Test match. Overall, it is the sixth highest in Test history. The previous record was the 212 run stand (also 3rd wkt) between Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad against the Kiwis at Hyderabad in November 1984.
** Khan (171*) became the first Test batsman to score five 100s in the fourth innings of a Test match! Four others (Sunil Gavaskar, Ricky Ponting, Ramnaresh Sarwan & Graeme Smith) have made four centuries.
** Khan’s 171* was his 11th Test score of 150-plus – now the most by a Pakistani batsman in Tests. He went past Javed Miandad who had ten scores of 150 or more.
** That innings is now the highest by a Pakistan batsman in the 4th innings of a Test match. The previous best was Salim Malik’s 155 at Colombo in April 1997.
** Misbah-ul-Haq’s last ball six to win this Test meant that he now has exactly 4,000 Test runs. He is the 9th Pakistani to reach the milestone.
** At 41 years, 40 days Misbah became the second oldest to reach the lankmark after England’s Jack Hobbs who was 43 years, 194 days when he achieved it in June 1926.
Younis Khan is awarded MoM for his record-breaking 171* in the 4th innings #SLvPak pic.twitter.com/PQc7J2CnQN
— ICC (@ICC) July 7, 2015
** Pakistan’s fourth innings total of 382/3
* Was their highest run chase in Test cricket (previous: 315/9 vs Aus at Karachi in October 1994)
* The sixth highest successful run chase in Test history
* The second highest successful run chase in the subcontinent, after India’s 387/4 vs England at Chennai in December 2008.
**Pakistan are now the only team to successfully chase 300+ scores in the fourth innings against Sri Lanka and they have done so twice. Pakistan made 302/5 in the fourth innings at Sharjah in January 2014 to win by five wickets.
Post script
In this historic Test match Younis Khan crossed 1,5000 runs in first-class cricket and his 171 not out was his 50th in his first class career.
