PAK vs SL: Jayasuriya, Mendis stun Pakistan, help Sri Lanka draw Test series

GALLE: Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis rattled Pakistan's batting line on day 5 as Sri Lanka beat the visitors by 246 runs in second Test to draw two-match series here on Thursday. 

Resuming the last day at 89-1 with a hope to save the match, Pakistan lost wickets after regular intervals to go out at Lunch for 188-5.

Opener Imam-ul-Haq, who remained not out for 46 the other day, managed to add just three runs to his innings before falling to Ramesh Mendis who gave first setback of the day to Pakistan who were set to chase 508 runs.

Needing 411 more runs to win the Test before the Lunch, Pakistani skipper Babar Azam tried to calm down the situation but his team ended up scoring just 261 runs.

He alongside Mohammad Rizwan (37), who was suffering to gain his form back, scored 79 runs but the wicket-keeper batter was outclassed by the man in-form Prabath Jayasuriya.

Rizwan's wicket forced a batting collapse once again as Fawad Alam (1), known as man of crisis, failed to score big yet again followed by Agha Salman (4) who didn't continue his first innings form. 

Fawad, who has scored four hundreds since his comeback after 10 years, was expected to stand for the Green Caps in a tough situation but he was unfortunate to get run-out.

Babar scored 81 runs before Jayasuriya got rid of him with an LBW. Jayasuriya and Mendis were constantly sharing wickets from their ends, respectively. 

Jayasuriya bagged Rizwan and Agha Salman in quick successions to build pressure on Babar. At last, Babar, who just rose to number three position in ICC Test rankings, lost his wicket to leave Pakistan tattering at 205-6.

Pakistan's hopes were shattered soon after Babar's departure but Yasir Shah, who has a Test century under his belt, resisted a bit to score 27 runs. His innings included six boundaries. 

Tailender Naseem Shah also entered double figures, scoring 18 and he was the last wicket to fall from Pakistan. 

Jayasuriya bagged overall eight wickets in the second Test followed by Mendis' nine. The left-arm spinner bagged man-of-the-series award for picking up 17 wickets. 

On the other hand, Dhananjaya de Silva bagged player of the second Test award for his magnificent ninth Test century.