Sri Lanka threaten but Pakistan survive as Test ends in draw

Ultimately, there wasn't enough time in the game to satisfy anyone. Not enough for Sri Lanka to truly suffocate Pakistan after the early pressure placed upon them this morning, nor for Pakistan to see if there were a few jitters in Sri Lanka's batting line-up after they eventually ended up with a fourth innings target that would pose some questions for the visitors. And not enough for poor old Saud Shakeel, who tried to improvise his way to a century in a race against the drying of the light, whose dismissal was the call for everyone involved to give up the farcical pretence that there were still nearly two hours left in the game. Both sides shook hands immediately after, just 25 minutes into the final session, with Pakistan leading by 272 with two wickets still in hand.

Realistically, Pakistan couldn't win going into the final day of the first Test in Rawalpindi. But they could certainly lose it. A superb bowling session from Sri Lanka took giant strides towards ensuring that possibility grew ever more realistic across an absorbing morning of play, in which they took four wickets and began to burrow into Pakistan's lower order. It left Pakistan leading by an insecure 139 at lunch, vulnerable to a collapse that would leave Sri Lanka with a narrow but realistic path to victory.

If anyone was groggy after overnight rain and a damp morning, they were jolted awake after the first ball. Azan Awais lazily drove with hard hands and edged Lahiru Kumara to second slip, and found his work done for the day. Five balls later, Mohammad Taha was taking his leave, Sri Lanka showing how disciplined they were prepared to be by tormenting him in the channel outside off stump and drawing the edge.

Out strode Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel. Invaluably for Pakistan, they took time out of the game by keeping Sri Lanka at bay for the next hour, taking very different approaches. Babar was expansive, positive even, through his innings. On occasion, he would launch into regal drives through the covers or straight down the ground, or flick and pull into gaps to keep that lead growing. Shakeel preferred steek to flair, especially disciplined in leaving balls outside the line of the stumps, those decisions made more challenging by the relentless accuracy of the quick bowlers.

Pakistan's supporters desperate to see signs of vintage Babar might have found some evidence to cling on to through his knock, though the visitors have every right to dispute that. Fernando, perhaps the pick of the bowlers, squared him up early in the innings and fractionally beat both outside edge and off stump, and Babar was much less convincing when judging what to leave. Shortly after, Fernando had him prodding at a seaming one outside off stump, getting an edge that floated to Kamindu Mendis, who somehow dropped a straightforward catch. The following over, Milan Rathnayaka only just failed to send him back lbw after an umpire's call went the other way.

With conventional tactics not quite working out, Sri Lanka turned to street smarts. They placed a fielder at short square leg and peppered his pads, and Babar waltzed into that trip, wristily flicking the ball precisely where that fielder had been placed. At the other end of a brief delay for bad light, Salman Agha did the same, though it needed Pasindu Sooriyabandara to take a blinder.

Pakistan's lead had barely passed 100 with more than two sessions to go, and Sri Lanka suddenly looked as if they could overwhelm them. It was down only to the stubborn Shakeel and Ghazi Ghori, who lept kept the visitors at bay for the tail-end of the morning session and the bulk of the second, and Sri Lanka's hopes of victory began to melt away in the Rawalpindi mists. Every run took the prospect of a result further away, and the intensity gradually began to seep out of the game.

Rathanayaka eventually worked Ghori over with the short ball enough to produce a nick with a bouncer, but Arafat Minhas also proved tricky to dislodge, keeping Shakeel company as he tiptoed towards a hundred. That became a charge after Minhas' dismissal as time in the game began to evaporate.

But for the third time in three Tests, Saud would not get there. In the fading light, three runs from three figures, he tried to launch Kumara back over his head and played down the wrong line. He heard the rattle of the stumps behind him, and that was the cue for the curtain to fall over the Test. The light had been deteriorating and the prospect of a result had long gone. The sides agreed upon a draw that, bar a fiery morning session from Sri Lanka, had been on the cards all along.