Don't lap sweep when Sangakkara keeps

Tillakaratne Dilshan had begun the innings in typically flamboyant fashion, hitting three early boundaries before there was a caught-behind appeal off Junaid Khan in the second over. The umpire turned it down, but the wicketkeeper Umar Akmal was absolutely certain, signalling for the referral at least a dozen times as he walked up to discuss with his team-mates. His confidence convinced Misbah-ul-Haq to go for the appeal though neither Snicko nor Hot Spot is available this series. There was a sound as the ball passed the bat, but hardly anything that could be deemed conclusive evidence. The third umpire S Ravi thought otherwise, and sent Dilshan on his way.

Upul Tharanga was beginning to open up after some moments of discomfort early on. He looked to push down the ground when a thick edge sent the ball towards the boot before lobbing back towards the bowler. Junaid coolly snagged a one-handed catch and appealed. On first look, the ball seemed to have bounced off the boot, but when the third umpire was called in, the replays showed it landed just next to his shoe. The next ball he was given out caught-behind, but with the sketchy DRS not offering much for the third umpire, the decision was overturned and Tharanga survived again. Only for four more overs though.

When Ahmed Shehzad was called on to bowl his part-time legspin, he began with a ripping delivery that turned past Angelo Mathews' bat and nearly got him stumped. If Misbah-ul-Haq expected more of that to control the raging run-rate, he was disappointed. Shehzad showed the trouble with part-time legspinners, and even some full-time legspinners, as he struggled to land the ball for the rest of his spell, and the experiment with his bowling ended after figures of 2-0-15-0.

In the first ODI, wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara had seen Misbah shaping for a lap sweep, and immediately shuffled to the leg side to pull off a stunning catch. He was at it again today: this time his victim was a well-set Shehzad, who popped a catch down the leg side to an agile Sangakkara. He tried to do it several other times in the game as well, but there was no more success. He was once struck on the helmet off a Misbah reverse-sweep, and later nearly pulled off a direct-hit run-out that after Fawad Alam stepped out of the crease after making a hash of a slog-sweep.