Cricket

'Need miracle'- Twitter reacts as Pakistan in need of record breaking run-chase on last day against Sri Lanka

Pakistan are given 508 runs to chase in the second innings by Sri Lanka. Twitter thinks only rain could stop their loss.

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Daniel S
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Pakistan

Pakistan (Image source: Twitter)

Having won the first Test with a record chase of 432 in the second innings, Pakistan were confident going into the second match. They have, however, been given a reality check in the second Test. Going into the last day of the match, Pakistan need 419 runs with nine wickets in hand.

Coming on to bat in the first innings, Sri Lanka, on the back of team performance, posted 378 on the scoreboard. Dinesh Chandimal continued his magical performance, making 80 runs and being the top scorer for the team.

The opener Oshada Fernando (50), and Dimuth Karunaratne (40) gave a good start to the home team, taking the score to 92 before the first wicket fell. Veteran batter Angelo Mathews also played an assured inning of 42 after three quick wickets fell in the middle.

Wicket-keeper batter, Niroshan Dickwella (51) and Ramesh Mendis (35) played important innings towards the end as well. Pakistan bowling was missing Shaheen Afridi due to a knee injury and lacked edge. Naseem Shah and Yasir Shah took three wickets each.

Coming onto bat in the first innings, the Pakistan batting lineup was outfoxed by the duo of Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya, who took eight wickets between them. Agha Salman was the only batter to make a half-century (62).

Sri Lanka having taken a lead in the first innings, built on it. Dhananjaya de Silva came up with the first century of the match (109) to take Sri Lanka to a humongous lead. Ramesh Mendis showed who impressed with his all-around abilities in the first innings continued his rich form and stuck a quickfire 45* off of 54 balls.

Sri Lanka having gone past 500 runs declared when de Silva was run out. Chasing a huge lead of 508 runs, Pakistan started cautiously but fell prey to in form Jayasuriya when last matchโ€™s hero Abdullah Shafique was caught by Mendis on mid-off.

Imam-ul-Haq (46) and captain Babar Azam (26) steading the ship before rain interrupted fourth-day play and the match was stopped. Pakistan still need 419 runs on the last day which seems very difficult but not impossible.

Twitter was awash with fans reacting to the game. Letโ€™s look at some of these reactions.

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