Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 1st Test at Galle, Jul 04 2009 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Herath was the star for Sri Lanka today with four wickets, and he started Pakistan's downfall with the wicket of Yousuf. Sangakkara is a happy man, winning his first Test as captain and leading his side to 1-0 lead. Galle has yet again lived up to its reputation. The highest score to win a Test here is just 6 runs, and had Pakistan won this game, they would have achieved only the third-highest score in the fourth innings at this venue. What an opportunity squandered! They've lost by fifty runs after they were in a situation to win this comfortably. There will undoubtedly be a lot of introspection about this devastating loss. There were not too many demons in the track, it didn't behave all too different from the way it did yesterday but some poor shot selection coupled with a professional display from Sri Lanka's bowlers shut them out.

Given the manner of their defeat, coming back into this series will be a massive task. Sri Lanka now stand an excellent chance of reversing their poor home record against Pakistan. They have never won a series against them at home, and now's probably their best shot at one.

It's a difficult choice for the Man of the Match with many good performances, but Herath might just squeeze it with the effort today. We'll see. By the way, this is only the fourth Test Sri Lanka have won without Murali since his debut.

Hold fire, we'll get you the details from the presentation shortly.

Oshada: "An interesting coincidence I noticed is that Pakistan had a lead of 50 runs after the 1st innings, but lost by the same margin at the end! It was reckless batting, but all credit to Sri Lanka's bowlers!"

Younis: "We never thought we'd lose this game. We lacked partnerships, and all credit goes to Sri Lanka for putting pressure on us. Batting first or second doesn't matter, but it was important to get our basics right. We were chasing just 97, and got no partnerships going. "

Sangakkara: "The consensus was to bowl in the right areas and the channels. The wicket was great with a bit for everyone, and i'd like to commend my team for an excellent performance. Herath was bowling particularly well to Yousuf, and Thushara got it to swing. All credit to them for putting the ball in the right areas. It's nice when things work out - getting Herath to fly in from England for this Test - but we need to still work on our batting."

Herath is the Man of the Match: "I'm so happy I came from England and helped my team win. I got a good day's rest on the first day. I've played with Sangakkara for 3-4 years, and he asked me to do today what I had done earlier while playing with him. The wicket of Yousuf was important, I had dismissed him a couple of times before and I was confident I could do it today as well."

I'll round off with this comment from Ahmad: "Though I am sad that Pakistan made a mess out of their last innings as a Pakistani fan. But as a cricket fan I feel this game is victory for good old Test cricket." Yup, you've gotta love this form of the game.

That's all we have from here, folks. Thanks for tuning in and mailing us your feedback. Do join us again in five days time for the second Test in Colombo. Until then, on behalf of everyone at Cricinfo, this is Sid Talya signing off. Goodbye, Alvidaa, Khuda-haafiz!