Kumar Sangakkara hit his eighth double hundred and Prasanna Jayawardene notched up a fighting century to stymie Pakistan's hopes of victory and salvage a draw for Sri Lanka in the first Test here on Saturday.
Sangakkara scored 211 during a marathon almost eleven-hour stay while Prasanna made 120 — his fourth century — as Sri Lanka piled on 483 to frustrate Pakistan on the fifth and final day at Abu Dhabi stadium.
A cluster of wickets in the final session, with Umar Gul taking four for 64, left Pakistan with an improbable target of 170 off a maximum of 20 overs, but they called it quits on 21 for one after 10 overs.
Sangakkara finally fell in the last over before tea, when he was trapped leg-before by the part-time leg-spinner Azhar Ali for his first wicket in Test cricket but not before he had frustrated Pakistan for almost two sessions. Sangakkara batted for 651 minutes, faced 431 deliveries and hit 18 boundaries in his epic knock.
With just 25 overs remaining and the match heading towards a draw, Prasanna fell caught behind off paceman Aizaz Cheema but by that time he and Sangakkara had changed the course of the match.
Sangakkara flicked Cheema to fine-leg for his 18th boundary to reach his double hundred after 604-minutes of defiant batting, and punched the air in delight.
A sixth-wicket record
Together with Prasanna, Sangakkara added 201 for the sixth wicket stand, erasing the previous best in Tests between Pakistan and Sri Lanka of 169 between Kamran Akmal and Yasir Arafat at Karachi two years ago.
Sangakkara, 33, has also achieved a personal landmark — he is now third behind Sir Donald Bradman (12) and West Indian Brian Lara (nine) in number of Test double hundreds.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq employed all possible means but Sangakkara and Prasanna did not serve up any chances in the first three hours. Prasanna reached his hundred with his 11th boundary, an uppish drive off spinner Saeed Ajmal.
In all, Prasanna hit 12 boundaries during his 273-ball knock.
Survival
Resuming at 298 for five, Sri Lanka survived the morning session unscathed as the overnight pair of Sangakkara and Prasanna kept Pakistan's three-pronged pace attack at bay to take their team to 364 for five at lunch.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka — 1st innings : 197.
Pakistan — 1st innings : 511 for six decl.
Sri Lanka — 2nd innings : T. Paranavitana lbw b Gul 0, L. Thirimanne (run out) 68, K. Sangakkara lbw b Ali 211, M. Jayawardene b Ajmal 4, T. Dilshan b Junaid 9, A. Mathews lbw b Gul 22, P. Jayawardene c Akmal b Cheema 120, R. Herath (not out) 23, C. Welegedara c Akmal b Gul 8, S. Lakmal b Gul 0, N. Pradeep (run out) 0, Extras (b-4, lb-11, nb-3): 18; Total (in 168 overs): 483.
Fall of wickets : 1-0, 2-153, 3-160, 4-191, 5-233, 6-434, 7-466, 8-477, 9-481.
Pakistan bowling : Gul 25-3-64-4, Cheema 32-1-108-1, Ajmal 55-8-167-1, Junaid 31-6-83-1, Hafeez 22-4-42-0, Ali 3-1-4-1.
