Mohammad Hafeez made most of his good batting form, and a benign pitch, to score a fluent half-century that helped Pakistan earn a comfortable draw in Abu Dhabi after being set a 302-run target in 67 overs. His 101-run stand with Ahmed Shehzad in 37.3 overs, effectively closed the door on Sri Lanka after Suranga Lakmal had provided an early breakthrough in the seventh over of the innings. He was unbeaten on 80 when the teams decided to shake hands at the start of the mandatory overs, reports Cricinfo. The Abu Dhabi Test looked set to end in a draw as Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad scored fluent half-centuries to lead Pakistan to tea with just the one wicket lost. The two added 94 runs together, almost closing the doors on Sri Lanka after Suranga Lakmal had provided an early breakthrough in the seventh over of the innings. Hafeez may have missed out in the first innings after making a confident start, but he was in no mood to cede advantage to the bowlers here. His first boundary was a neat straight drive through mid-off off Lakmal. His second was even better – as Rangana Herath tempted him with a flighted delivery, he responded by stepping out and caressing it through covers. No violence, just placement. That was also an early statement from the batsman against Sri Lanka’s best bowler. Herath, afterall, had been instrumental in sparking a Pakistan collapse while chasing 168 in Galle in 2009. The pitch in Abu Dhabi, though, neutralised the Herath threat, with the grass keeping the soil bound and ensuring it was still a good surface for batting on the fifth day. As the initial seam movement disappeared, Hafeez comfortably leaned into his drives, kept the strike rotating and ended his 12-innings long wait for a Test half-century with a boundary. It took him 68 balls to bring up the fifty and the positivity had an effect on his partner too. Shehzad had been circumspect in the first few overs, then dropped the anchor while Hafeez made all the moves, before opening up against Angelo Mathews with an on-the-up drive through the covers. He registered his first half-century off the last ball of the session. With the two batsmen appearing in no trouble whatsoever, Sri Lanka would have wondered about the timing of their declaration. The focus on the fifth morning was on what approach Sri Lanka would take. They were leading by 241 at the start of the day and with five wickets in hand, were expected to ramp up the rate to give their bowlers enough time to bowl Pakistan out. However, Angelo Mathews and Prasanna Jayawardene didn’t show any urgency for runs and quietly nibbled away at time, scoring at a rate of less than three – only 60 came in 20.3 overs. They set Pakistan 302 to win in 67 overs. Pakistan, who have only once chased down more than 300, weren’t in a rush either. The third new ball was available after 12 overs in the morning session but Misbah-ul-Haq chose to hold it back denying the batsmen a chance to go after the harder ball. Prasanna Jayawardene marked his return to Test cricket after a year-long gap with his fifth Test half-century. He pulled the first ball he faced from Bilawal Bhatti – a gentle bouncer – to the fine-leg boundary, also registering the century of the partnership. That was his only four of the morning as he scored just 15 runs in 62 balls until the declaration. Mathews’ first scoring shot was a pull as well, an unconvincing one off Junaid Khan, and he was lucky that the top-edge landed short of the deep square leg fielder. But he followed it up with two boundaries with the same shot off Bhatti, his lesser pace not quite posing the same challenge as Junaid’s. Mathews scored another brace of fours through fine leg in Junaid’s last over of his spell, but then laboured to his 150, only managing to find the boundary two more times.Sri Lanka 204 and 480 for 5 dec (Mathews 157*, P Jayawardene 63*) drew with Pakistan 383 and 158 for 2 (Hafeez 80*, Shehzad 55)
-With Cricinfo input via The News Today
