'The pitch isn't like the first Test' - Mohammad Nawaz feels Pakistan let Sri Lanka score little bit too much

Sri Lanka scored more than 300 runs despite Pakistan getting six wickets on the first day of the second Test match at the Galle International Stadium. Pakistan bowlers had to sweat it out to get wickets on the bowling-friendly pitch as Sri Lanka posted 315/6 in just 86 overs on Day 1. At the end of the day, star Pakistani all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz stated that the bowlers didn’t get much help from the pitch as expected and Pakistan let the hosts score a little bit too much.

Pakistan managed to chase a record-breaking 342-run target on Day 5 of the first Test match at the same venue. Nawaz took five wickets in the second innings and remained unbeaten on 19 runs at the end of the chase. As expected, the pitch proved heaven for the spin bowlers in the first match but it was not the same case on Sunday (July 24) in the second and final fixture of this series. Sri Lankan batters looked strong playing against the likes of Yasir Shah and Nawaz from the start of the innings.

“I think we let them score a little bit too much. The pitch isn’t like the first Test; it wasn’t turning and the pitch was slow. I think we would have been better served by squeezing the score rather than attacking. Because the pitch was very slow and the wickets weren’t coming as easily, you needed to work especially hard for them. So if we’d restricted their score, perhaps the wickets would have come easier,” Mohammad Nawaz said at the end of day one.

Mohammad Nawaz defends skipper Babar Azam

Pakistani fielders came under scrutiny once again for dropping a few easy catches on Day 1. Skipper Babar Azam, who is an excellent fielder, dropped two catches and Hasan Ali dropped another. The scoreboard would have been entirely different had those catches not been dropped. While Nawaz feels that it’s rare to see Babar dropping catches, he defended his skipper, saying that anyone can make errors.