Rangana Herath became the second Sri Lankan to bag 400 wickets as his six-wicket haul steered Sri Lanka to a dramatic 21-run win over Pakistan in the first Test in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
The veteran spinner took 6 wickets for 43 runs – 11 wickets for 136 runs in the match – to scupper Pakistan, set a modest 136-run target, for just 114 on a weary fifth day Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch.
The victory was achieved when Herath trapped last man Mohammad Abbas leg before for nought to give Sri Lanka a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Herath, a long-time nemesis of Pakistan, also completed 100 wickets in 20 Tests against them, during an innings in which only debutant Haris Sohail fought with some resolve for his 34 runs.
Herath became the 14th most successful bowler in all Test cricket and fifth spinner behind his countryman Muttiah Muralitharan, Australia’s Shane Warne and the Indian duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh and the first slow left-armer to reach the 400-wicket milestone.
An unassuming Herath said he didn’t know why he always took wickets against Pakistan.
“I have no idea,” said Herath, who took 22 wickets against Pakistan in 2014 – a world record for a two-match series. “Maybe I have played more against them, that’s why. I am so happy with the remarkable achievement [400 wickets].”
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed called the defeat ‘disappointing’. “We should have won this,” said Sarfraz skippering his side for the first time in a Test. “We have a few issues, especially in the fifth day when we come under pressure.”
The 136 set Pakistan was Sri Lanka’s lowest defended target, improving on the 168 they set the Pakistanis in the Galle Test in 2009. It was also a first defeat for Pakistan at this venue in 10 Tests.
Earlier, leg-spinner Yasir Shah took 5-51 — his 32nd five-wicket haul in Tests — to dismiss Sri Lanka for 138 in their second innings.
Niroshan Dickwella ensured Sri Lanka had something to defend with a pugnacious 40.
Pakistan started the chase on a shaky note when Herath dismissed opener Sami Aslam for two before accounting for Asad Shafiq, who made 20.
Herath had taken 5-93 in Pakistan’s first innings of 422 and this time he shared the new ball with Suranga Lakmal to put Pakistan in trouble with regular wickets.
Perera then had Shan Masood (seven) and a shaky Babar Azam for three to leave Pakistan struggling at 32-4.
In between fast bowler Lakmal had Azhar Ali caught behind for nought.
On the either side of tea, Haris and Sarfraz (19) fought hard to stitch a 42-run stand but Herath provided the breakthrough when he forced the Pakistan skipper out of his crease and had him stumped by Dickwella.
Perera ended Haris’ fight by trapping him leg before and also had Shah but it turned out to be a no-ball, halting Sri Lanka’s celebrations, eventually provided by Herath.
Pakistan, led by Yasir, bowled well in the morning.
Sri Lanka, who resumed at 69-4, lost their last six wickets for 69 runs but Dickwella still put up a lone fight — hitting four boundaries — and more importantly giving Sri Lanka a target to fight.
Pakistan were given two key wickets by seamer Abbas who finished with 2-22. It was then left to Yasir who on consecutive deliveries dismissed Perera for six and then had Herath caught by close in fielder to complete his fourth consecutive five-wicket haul in as many Tests.
Dickwella then took a rearguard action, shielding the number 10 Lakshan Sandakan from the bowling during a resistance-packed ninth wicket stand of 34 which came in 10.1 overs.
Yasir finally had Sandakan caught at point while Hasan Ali ended the innings by bowling Nuwan Pradeep, leaving Dickwell’s fight stranded.
Sunday’s day four was tough to negotiate but despite a 32nd Test five-wicket haul for Herath, Pakistan posted 422 to take a slender three-run lead on the first innings.
Herath’s 5-93 in 40 overs were well foiled by a brilliant 76 by debutant Harisl, as initially it looked as though Sri Lanka would take a first-innings lead.
Pakistan then hit back in the second innings through Yasir, who first had opener Dimuth Karunaratne caught for 10 and then dismissed first-innings centurion Chandimal, caught at slip, for seven.
Haris followed his responsible knock by claiming Kaushal Silva’s wicket, whom he trapped leg before for 25, while part-timer Asad Shafiq had Lahiru Thirimanne for seven.
The 28-year-old Haris’ impressive Test bow has come despite a career-threatening knee injury which required surgery in 2015.
Earlier on Sunday, Pakistan too were struggling at 316-6 and were in danger of conceding a healthy lead despite Azhar’s defiant knock of 85 lasted more than five hours and included four boundaries, but with his dismissal Pakistan’s hopes of building a lead looked slim.
But Haris had other ideas as he added an invaluable 50 for the ninth wicket with Hasan to lift Pakistan from 340-8.
Haris hit seven fours and two sixes before holing out to paceman Nuwan Pradeep.
Hasan’s whirlwind 25-ball 29 featured three sixes and two fours.
The second and final Test — a day-night affair — will be played in Dubai from Friday.
Summarized Results
Sri Lanka (1st Innings) 419; Pakistan (1st innings) 422
Sri Lanka (2nd Innings) 138; Pakistan (2nd innings) 114
Sri Lanka won by 21 runs

The pace of Kagiso Rabada and the spin of Keshav Maharaj sent Bangladesh crashing to a 333-run defeat on the fifth day of the first Test against South Africa at Senwes Park on Monday.
Bangladesh lost seven wickets for 41 runs in less than an hour and a half as they were bowled out for 90 after being set 424 to win.
South Africa’s victory was overshadowed by an injury to fast bowler Morne Morkel, who is expected to be out for six weeks.
Rabada started the destruction by taking the first three wickets of the morning. He finished with three for 33, while left-arm spinner Maharaj took four for 25.
Resuming on 49 for three, Bangladesh lost their captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, to the 12th ball of the morning when he pushed at a lifting delivery from Rabada and was well caught above his head by Hashim Amla at first slip for 16.
Mahmudullah was bowled off an inside edge when he played a tentative defensive shot against the fast bowler and Liton Das offered no shot and was leg before wicket to a ball which slanted in to him.
Sabbir Rahman and Taskin Ahmed were both leg before to Maharaj before Shafiul Islam was run out when he and Mehedi Hasan attempted a third run against the strong fielding arm of Rabada after a relay throw from 12th man Wayne Parnell, who chased a ball to long-off.
Mehedi and last batsman Mustafizur Rahman shared the best partnership of the morning, putting on 15 before Mustafizur pushed back a return catch to Maharaj.
Bangladesh’s rapid demise meant that South Africa were hardly hampered by the absence of Morkel, who suffered a side strain after taking the first two wickets on Sunday.
South Africa dominated the match after Mushfiqur’s surprising decision to send them in to bat on an easy-paced pitch, with man-of-the-match Dean Elgar (199), new cap Aiden Markram (97) and Hashim Amla (137) enabling them to score 496 for three declared in the first innings.
Summarized Results
South Africa (1st Innings) 496-3 declared
Bangladesh (1st Innings) 320
South Africa (2nd Innings) 247-6 declared
Bangladesh (2nd Innings) 90 all out
South Africa won by 333 runs

Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh skipper,on Monday (October 2) said he is 'ashamed' and 'disappointed' at the way Bangladesh lost the opening Test to South Africa in Potchefstroom, and blamed the batsmen and the bowlers for a poor all-round show. The visitors folded for 90 runs on the final day to hand South Africa a 333-run win.
"I am ashamed," Mushfiqur told reporters at Senwes Park. "After a long time I saw a session where we lost even before being lost. I really don't know why it happened. It is disappointing because I really forgot when we batted in this manner. You can lose a match in many ways but we have the ability to bat for two sessions," Mushfiqur said.
In many ways, Bangladesh were on the back foot right from the first session of the match itself, and never got a look-in in what was a thoroughly dominant performance by South Africa, who were lucky to get to bat first despite losing the toss.
Mushfiqur blamed the team's poor understanding of local conditions for the decision to field after winning the toss. "You can say we could have batted but there is no guarantee that we would put a 500 plus score on the board. All of us took this decision (to bowl first). We didn't know much about South African wickets, so it was hard for us to predict. We practiced on totally different wickets. On any flat wicket, the help for the bowlers stay for the first two hours. If you think about what will happen in the fourth innings and then get bowled out for 100 in the first innings, it becomes difficult."

Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday urged India to be “relentless” after they thrashed Australia by seven wickets in the fifth one-day international, clinching the series 4-1.
Chasing 243 for victory, the hosts rode on opener Rohit Sharma's 109-ball 125 to achieve their target in 42.5 overs at Nagpur and get back to the top of the ODI world rankings table.
India, who reached the ODI summit after three straight wins in the series, had slipped behind South Africa following their loss in the fourth game. They were already the top Test team.
“It feels good. It was a really convincing series win for us. Ticked all boxes... We had a chance to retain the No. 1 spot and we ended up doing that,” Kohli said at the presentation.
“The management also plays a massive part in motivating players after being 3-0 up in the series. But we want to be relentless,” he added.
It was a disciplined bowling effort led by spinner Axar Patel, who claimed three wickets, that set up India's comfortable victory after restricting the visitors to 242-9.
In reply, Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, who made 61, put on a 124-run opening stand to lay a solid foundation in another dominating performance in recent times.
“We repeated the way we played against Sri Lanka (beat them 9-0 across the three formats), proud of that. Shows the quality of the side, regardless of the opposition,” said Kohli.
Man of the match Sharma, who opened his account with two successive boundaries after 14 deliveries, was the first to get to his fifty with a double off Marcus Stoinis.
Rahane also got his fourth successive 50-plus score before being trapped lbw by pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile, who ended with 10 wickets in the five matches.
Sharma went on to register his 14th ODI ton during his 99-run partnership with Kohli, who made a sedate 39. He got to his hundred with a six off Coulter-Nile.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa sent Sharma, who hit 11 fours and 5 sixes, and Kohli back to the pavilion.
Kedar Jadhav, unbeaten on five, and Manish Pandey, 11 not out, then saw the team team through.
Earlier, opener David Warner's 62-ball 53 was not enough to inspire the Australian batting as they ended on a below-par total after electing to bat first.
All-rounder, Hardik Pandya, who struck first by getting Aaron Finch out for 32, was given the man of the series award for his six wickets and 222 runs in the series.
Travis Head and Stoinis tried hard to counter a persistent Indian bowling with their 87-run fifth-wicket partnership, but their departure spelt further trouble for the visitors.
Head, who made 42, and Stoinis, who scored 46, failed to convert their starts into bigger scores as Australia totally lost steam in the final five overs.
Left-arm spinner Patel returned impressive figures of 3-38 while fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah claimed two wickets.
“Lost wickets in clumps again. Have a few things to look at to try and improve and gain the consistent performances we're after,” said a disappointed Aussie captain Steve Smith.
“We've been outplayed and deserve to lose 4-1...India have got a very good balance. We have six or so days until the 3-match T20I series. We'd like to go home with a trophy,” he added.
The action now shifts to the three Twenty20 internationals starting Saturday in Ranchi.

West Indies failed in their bid to end their English summer on a high when they suffered a heavy nine-wicket drubbing in the final One-Day International of the five-match series in Southampton on September 29.
Defending 288 at the Ageas Bowl, West Indies were put to the sword by Jonny Bairstow who belted an unbeaten 141 and fellow opener Jason Roy, who hammered 96, as the hosts marched to their target off 38 overs to complete a 4-0 series win.
The pair put on 156 for the first wicket before Joe Root, who ended unbeaten on 46, added a further 138 in an unbroken second-wicket stand with Bairstow to see England to their 16th win over the Windies in their last 22 ODI meetings.
Stroke-maker Shai Hope had earlier gathered a stylish 72 as West Indies rallied to 288 for six off their 50 overs after they were sent in.
Talismanic opener Chris Gayle slammed an aggressive 40 while debutant Sunil Ambris struck 38 not out and Kyle Hope, 33.
Marlon Samuels got 32 while tail-ender Ashley Nurse produced an unbeaten 31 and stand-in captain Jason Mohammed, 25.
Gayle provided the fireworks with a four and five sixes off 29 balls as he added 52 for the first wicket with Kyle Hope.
Gayle struck three back-to-back sixes off hapless pacer Jake Ball in the fifth over that cost 20 runs before attempting another big hit off debutant seamer Tom Curran and perishing to a great catch by Liam Plunkett running back at mid-off in the eighth over.
The Windies momentum then slowed even though the Hope brothers put on 34 for the second wicket and Shai and Samuels added 57 for the third wicket.
Kyle faced 38 balls and counted three fours before driving a return catch to pacer Plunkett in the 15th over and Samuels consumed 60 balls and struck a single four before missing a charge at off-spinner Moeen Ali and going stumped in the 32nd over.
With the innings badly in need of energy, Shai and Mohammed combined in an important 52-run, fourth wicket stand off 50 deliveries to lift the Windies.
Shai stroked four boundaries and a six – an imperious pull over mid-wicket off Ball – in a polished 95-ball innings while Mohammed hit a four a and six off 30 balls before picking out Joe Root at long-off leg-spinner Adil Rashid in the 40th.
Shai raised his fourth ODI half-century in the 39th over with the second of three successive boundaries off Curran but with the charge on, was caught by Sam Billings on the deep cover boundary in the 44th over.
At 221 for five in the 44th over, the innings was in danger of stalling but Ambris and Nurse then provided an important late flourish to get the Windies up to a decent total.
Ambris stroked four fours in a busy 27-ball knock, adding 32 for the sixth wicket with Rovman Powell (11) before putting on a further 35 with Nurse in an unbroken seventh wicket partnership.
Nurse was imperious in his 12-ball cameo, striking three fours and two sixes.
Their good work went to waste, however, as West Indies bowlers leaked 71 runs from the first 10 overs, with Roy and Bairstow cashing in.
Roy belted 11 fours and a six off 70 deliveries, missing out on his fourth ODI hundred when he was lbw in the 22nd over to a full length delivery from fast bowler Miguel Cummins.
Bairstow, though, made no such mistake, following up his maiden hundred in the first game at Old Trafford with another three-figure knock.
All told, he faced 114 balls and gathered 17 boundaries – reaching his first fifty off 48 balls before reaching his century off another 42 deliveries.
Root, who counted two fours and a six in a busy 44-ball innings, ended the game in style when he cleared the ropes back overhead with off-spinner Samuels.

New Zealand A's promise with the bat was short lived on the final day of the concluding four-day game as they took the familiar downhill route to be demolished by India A's spin attack comprising of Karn Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem.
Karn's five-for coupled with Nadeem's four scripted yet another sorry story for the tourists as they finished the two four-day Tests without much to remember.
The concluding day began with skipper Henry Nicholls and Jeet Raval on 55 and 41 not out respectively. Raval, who would have finally looked to put an end to a string of starts, was again trapped short of something substantial with the left-armer Nadeem striking him in front of the sticks for three short of a fifty. The duo had lasted just under 12 overs, adding 20 runs when India A bagged its first scalp of the day.
The tourists then lost Will Young, Colin Munro and Tom Bruce for just 18 runs to be reduced to 176 for 5. The strike of the day came when Karn Sharma got rid of the skipper on 94. Nicholls had batted solidly even while New Zealand A were losing their ground from the other end rather rapidly.
Following Nicholls's dismissal, New Zealand A could collect only 20 more runs to crash to their second innings defeat in as many games.
Nadeem accounted for four wickets. India A had to be on the field for only 40 overs on Tuesday before wrapping up a rather comfortable win by an innings and 26 runs.
Both teams would now shift their base to Visakhapatnam for a five-match limited-overs series.
Karn and Nadeem ended up bagging 30 wickets together and would look to help their side extend their dominance to the five-match series, starting October 6.
Brief Scores: New Zealand A 211 & 210 lost to India A 447 by an innings and 26 runs.

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has confirmed it will host West Indies for a short tour comprising two Tests in Bulawayo later this month. This will be Zimbabwe's first Test engagement since their tour of Sri Lanka in July.
The first Test will be played from October 21-25, while the second one will follow from October 29. Both matches will be played at the Queens' Sports Club. A three-day warm-up from October 15 will precede the series opener.
Brendan Taylor and Kyle Jarvis are both expected to make their international comebacks during the series. The pair left Zimbabwe in 2015 and 2013 respectively to play in England on Kolpak deals. But they were convinced to opt out of their English deals early and return home following a complete overhaul of ZC's structures.
Their inclusion is particularly significant because Zimbabwe will depend on them during 2019 World Cup qualifiers, which could take place in their own country next March. West Indies, who failed to qualify automatically, will be among their opponents in that tournament and Zimbabwe will perhaps use this series to gauge how they will match up.
This will be West Indies' second tour to Zimbabwe in the last 12 months. They featured there in a tri-series, also involving Sri Lanka, in November last year.

Sri Lanka arrive in India next month for a cramped tour that will have them playing three Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is in 37 days, with the first Test likely to begin in Kolkata on November 16, and final match to be played on December 24.
Nagpur and Delhi will host the second and third Tests, before the limited-overs leg kicks off with the first ODI in Dharamsala on December 10. Mohali and Visakhapatnam complete the ODI fixtures, after which the T20Is will be held in Cuttack, Indore and Mumbai. While the BCCI hasn't made an official announcement yet, ESPNcricinfo reported it has verified the schedule with most of the hosting centres.
The second Test will be Nagpur's first Test since the ICC gave the Jamtha surface a 'poor' rating during the series against South Africa in 2015. The pitch in Nagpur has since been relaid, and it hosted the fifth ODI between India and Australia on October 1.
Indore and Mumbai will be staging their second international games in the space of a few months, both hosting T20Is against Sri Lanka. Indore hosted an ODI against Australia, and Mumbai will host a New Zealand ODI. Thiruvananthapuram, which had been initially allotted a T20I against Sri Lanka, will now host a T20I against New Zealand on November 7 after swapping fixtures with Cuttack.

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