Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis produced a batting masterclass in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, scoring unbeaten centuries to lift Sri Lanka to 404 for 4 at stumps on the third day of the first Test against Pakistan. The visitors now trail the home side by only 30 runs, with six wickets still in hand.
Pakistan had declared their first innings at 434 for 9, and when Sri Lanka slipped to 155 for 4, the home side looked set for a commanding lead. Instead, de Silva and Mendis turned the match around with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 249 runs, frustrating Pakistan’s bowlers for the rest of the day.
De Silva was unbeaten on a polished 167 from 241 balls, striking 20 boundaries in an innings that mixed patience with crisp strokeplay. It was his 14th Test hundred, his fourth against Pakistan and his second at the Rawalpindi venue. He had a moment of luck early on, dropped on 38 by Saud Shakeel off pacer Razaullah, and made full use of the reprieve.
Mendis, leading Sri Lanka in a Test for the first time, finished the day on 117 not out from 188 balls, an innings featuring 10 fours and four sixes. In doing so, he became the first Sri Lankan to score a century in his maiden Test as captain, having taken over the leadership from de Silva before this series.
The pair’s 249-run partnership is a record for Sri Lanka against Pakistan, improving on the 207 posted by Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan in Lahore in 2009. Bad light brought an early end to the day’s play, with 23 overs still to be bowled, and the two batters will resume on the fourth day with Sri Lanka eyeing a first-innings lead.
De Silva brought up his hundred from 151 balls, reaching the landmark with a boundary off spinner Arafat Minhas, while Mendis completed his century from 152 deliveries with a ramped boundary over the wicketkeeper’s head in the final session. Both batters grew in confidence as the day wore on, punishing anything loose and rotating the strike with ease.
Pakistan’s inexperienced bowling attack struggled to find a way through on a pitch that offered little help as the day progressed. The home side’s bowlers toiled without reward for the final 60 overs of Sri Lanka’s innings, and the fielding side will now need early wickets on day four to stay in the contest.
The match is the first of a two-Test series that forms part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle, giving the result significance beyond the series itself. The second Test will also be played in Rawalpindi, starting on November 17, after being shifted from Lahore due to poor weather conditions in the city.
For Sri Lanka, the day belonged to a former captain and his successor batting together in perfect harmony. For Pakistan, the challenge now is to break a partnership that has already rewritten the record books before it can turn a narrow deficit into a sizeable lead.
