Heavy rain and bad light hit the second day of the historic Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka here on Thursday, Pakistan’s first home Test since a deadly attack in 2009.
Sri Lanka, resuming at 220 for five, had progressed to 225 for five in 7.5 overs when heavy rain in the morning forced the teams to have early lunch.
Play was stopped for two hours and 43 minutes but when it resumed, only 10 overs were possible with Sri Lanka losing Niroshan Dickwella for 33 before bad light, accompanied by rain, forced an early call-off at 3.30 p.m.
At close, Sri Lanka was 263 for six with Dhananjaya de Silva unbeaten on 72 and Dilruwan Perera batting on two.
The stop-start play left both teams frustrated as well as 2,000 fans.
When play resumed after lunch, Pakistan took the second new ball and lanky pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi removed Dickwella, caught at gully by Babar Azam.
Dickwella, who hit four boundaries, added 67 for the sixth wicket with de Silva, thwarting Pakistan’s attempts for early wickets. de Silva has so far hit 11 boundaries in his 131-ball stay.
