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Pakistan fielded four debutants in the first Test against Sri Lanka as they seek to rebuild after the miserable tour of England and all have made promising starts to leave the home side in a strong position after two days in Rawalpindi.
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With Arafat Minhas joining first day half-centurions Tayyab Arif and Mohammad Taha in making a fifty on debut Pakistan reached 9-434.
Fellow newcomer fast bowler Saqib Khan then brought the greenish pitch to life with 2-54 as Sri Lanka reached 3-114, 320 behind, before bad light brought an early close for the second successive day.
Kamindu Mendis, having survived a close lbw review and a leading edge that fell just short, was unbeaten on 40 with former Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva 22 not out.
Pakistan, having resumed at 5-281, were able to declare midway in Tuesday's second session with Saud Shakeel top scoring on 93.
He was out in the first over after lunch gloving a leg-side short ball to give Asitha Fernando (3-107) his 100th Test wicket.
"You get too disappointed when you don't complete a milestone (century)," Shakeel said. "The ball came too quick and probably that's why I got out.
Shakeel's 193-ball knock in just over five-and-a-half hours grew Pakistan's total in partnerships of 96 with Ghazi Ghori (48) and 44 with Minhas (52).
In a dominant first session, Pakistan added 109 for the wicket of Ghori after Sri Lanka couldn't penetrate through the middle order even with the second new ball.
The Sri Lanka fast bowlers struggled to hit the right lengths on a consistent basis and the fielding was scrappy. Fernando dropped a skier off Minhas at mid-on before the left-hander completed his maiden Test fifty off 70 balls.
Ghori fell when he dabbed left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka (3-108) to gully.
After the declaration Mohammad Abbas and Saqib hit the right lengths with the new ball and both struck in their second overs to have Sri Lanka reeling at 2-12.
Abbas extracted movement from his off stump line and found the outside edge of Pasindu Sooriyabandara, who was promoted to open the innings in his third Test and out for a duck.
Saqib struck off his ninth delivery in Test cricket when he squared up the experienced Dinesh Chandimal from a perfect length ball that angled across the right-hander and edged the shoulder of the bat to the slip cordon.
Sri Lanka slumped further in the shortened final session when Lahiru Udara (42) edged Saqib to wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori.
The second Test from November 17-21 will also be in Rawalpindi due to an increase in smog levels in Lahore, the Pakistan Cricket Board said several hours after the close of day two.
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