The free hit and no-ball, and Rizwan's redemption

Tillakaratne Dilshan's 65-ball stay was scratchier than a pair of undercrackers. He could have been out on his sixth ball had Mohammad Irfan not overstepped. Irfan enlisted the help of his height to generate big extra bounce outside off and induce a nick, which was pouched by Sarfraz Ahmed, only for the umpire to find that Irfan had overstepped after checking. With a free hit for the taking, Dilshan could have swatted, lashed, clouted or unfurled his signature 'Dilscoop'. Instead he miscued it straight down the throat of mid-on.

Mohammad Rizwan, a keeper by trade, showed off his agility on the field. Debutant Milinda Siriwardana sliced Shoaib Malik high in the air towards long-off. Mohammad Rizwan hared across to his right, put in a full-length dive as the ball stuck in his right hand before it popped out; the momentum causing both Rizwan and the ball to trickle away to the boundary. Eight balls later, Rizwan redeemed himself, running in from cover, settling under another sliced hit, this one sending Siriwardana back.

When Babar Azam was rapped on the front pad in line with the stumps after missing a sweep, he was given out lbw. Hafeez, the senior partner, insisted on a review but Azam nipped it firmly in the bud. Eventually, it proved the right call as projections showed that the ball would have crashed into middle and off.

Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal summoned some powerful blows during their 82-run partnership but Mathews' deft glance off Hafeez in the 39th over stood out. He looped it up but drifted down the leg, Mathews waited on it before helping it fine on the leg side with minimalist touch. The ball beat the man in deep, skipping away like a pebble on water.