‘Pure Sorcery’: Abdullah Shafique’s One-Handed Stunner to Dismiss Samarwickrama Sets Twitter Ablaze – WATCH

Pakistan on Thursday clinched the first Test against Sri Lanka by 4 wickets to go 1-0 up in the 2-match series. Chasing 131 for victory, Pakistan started the final day on 48-3 and lost three more wickets, including Babar Azam for 24. However, Imam-ul-Haq’s unbeaten fifty steered the visitors to a thrilling victory in the first session itself.

Besides Pakistan’s clinical win, what garnered viewers’ attention was the one-handed stunner from Abdullah Shafique at short-leg on the penultimate day of the Test match at Galle. Arguably one of the best catches ever seen, Shafiue’s take dismissed Sri Lanka batter Sadeera Samarawickrama and reduced Sri Lanka to 175/6 before a terrific fightback from the lower middle order took the hosts to 279.

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Here’s how it happened:

It was the 56^th over of Sri Lanka’s second innings when Samarawickrama confidently advanced down the pitch against Agha Salman. However, the Lanka batter was beaten by the length and the ball went down toward short leg after taking an inside edge of the bat. Shafique anticipated the trajectory of the ball and dived full length to his right, plucking the ball from thin air with an extraordinary display of fielding prowess.

By the end of the day, the game had tilted a bit in Pakistan’s favour as they needed 83 runs to win with seven wickets on the final day. Imam started the final day on 25 and remained calm with Babar and then left-handed partner Saud Shakeel, who made a brisk 30 after his unbeaten 208 in Pakistan’s first innings.

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Lanka spinner Jayasuriya bagged four wickets to give the hosts a glimmer of hope, but Imam stood form under pressure. He reached his eighth Test fifty before falling to Jayasuriya, but Agha Salman came out to hit the winning six.

Earlier, Saud Shakil’s double century and Agha Salman’s 83 allowed Pakistan to mount up a score of 461 in reply to Sri Lanka’s 361 on the back of Dhananjaya de Silva’s 10th Test ton (122) in the first innings.

The second match of the two-match Test series starts Monday in Colombo.