Saqib Khan took 5 for 25 in one spell on debut, and Sri Lanka lost their last six wickets for 42 in Rawalpindi
Debutant Saqib Khan finished with 7 for 130 as Sri Lanka went from 404 for 4 to 446 all out, and Pakistan were 45 ahead on 57 for 1 when the weather stopped day four.
Nov 12, 2026
Sri Lanka began the fourth day in Rawalpindi on 404 for 4, with both overnight batters past 100 and a big first-innings lead in reach. Fifteen overs later they were all out for 446, only 12 ahead, and the debutant Saqib Khan had taken five more wickets.
Saqib bowled an unbroken eight-over spell on Thursday morning and took 5 for 25 in it. He finished with 7 for 130 from 34 overs. Pakistan were 57 for 1 in their second innings, 45 ahead, when bad light and then rain stopped play after lunch.
De Silva went fifth ball
Dhananjaya de Silva had been 167 not out overnight. He pushed at one that swung away and edged it to the wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori with the fifth ball of the day, without adding a run.
Kusal Mendis lasted a little longer and added two to his overnight 117. Saud Shakeel dropped him at first slip off Saqib, and later in the same over Mendis edged another one, this time to a diving Ghori. The pair had put on 249 for the fifth wicket, and Pakistan had not taken a wicket after lunch on Wednesday.
The last six wickets fell for 42. Sonal Dinusha made 20 before he drove at Saqib and was caught by Salman Ali Agha, which gave Saqib a five-wicket haul in the first innings he had ever bowled in a Test. Saqib trapped Lahiru Kumara lbw first ball, and Ghori caught Asitha Fernando off him on a Pakistan review. Razaullah finished the innings when Milan Rathnayaka was caught in the deep by Tayyab Arif. Ghori held six catches in the innings, four of them off Saqib.
The fourth Pakistani to take seven on debut
Saqib is only the fourth Pakistan bowler to take seven wickets in an innings on Test debut. Mohammad Nazir took 7 for 99 against New Zealand in 1969, Mohammad Zahid 7 for 66 against New Zealand at this ground in 1996, and Abrar Ahmed 7 for 114 against England in Multan in 2022.
Saqib’s first two wickets came on Tuesday, when he removed Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Udara. He went wicketless on Wednesday, when de Silva and Mendis batted from before lunch to the close. On Thursday, under cloud and on a pitch that still moved off the seam, he got his reward.
Another day cut short
Pakistan lost Tayyab Arif, another debutant, in the third over of their second innings. Fernando had him lbw for 11, and Pakistan’s review did not save him. Azan Awais (22 not out) and Mohammad Taha (24 not out) then saw off Sri Lanka’s quicks for 19 overs before the weather came in.
All four days of this Test have been cut short by bad light. Pakistan are 45 ahead with nine wickets left and one day to play on Friday, so a draw is the likeliest finish. The second Test, moved from Lahore because of smog, starts at the same ground on 17 November.