Left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi starred with the ball for Pakistan as the visitors bundled out Sri Lanka for 222 in the first innings of the opening Test at Galle International Stadium on Saturday (July 16).

The hosts won the toss and opted to bat first but Shaheen wreaked havoc on their batting line-up, returning with the figures of 4 for 58 in his 14.1 overs. Dimuth Karunaratne (1), Dhananjaya de Silva (14), Niroshan Dickwella (4) and Maheesh Theekshana (38) were his victims in the first innings.

On his comeback to Test cricket after recovering from a thumb injury, Yasir Shah also impressed one and all with his bowling performance. The leg-spinner accounted for the dismissals of Kusal Mendis (21) and Angelo Mathews (0) as he recorded the figures of 2 for 66.

Interestingly, when Yasir came in to bowl his second over, wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan’s antics left everyone in splits. Rizwan uttered a few words in Sinhalese behind the stumps, much to the delight of the local fans.

"Pakistan cricketers have started speaking Sinhala words," a Sri Lankan journalist tweeted.

For Pakistan, Hasan Ali also shined with the ball, finishing with the figures of 2 for 23 while Mohammad Nawaz (1/18) and Naseem Shah (1/53) chipped in with wicket apiece. Dinesh Chandimal was the top scorer for the home team with 76.

At the close of play on Day 1, the tourists were reduced to 24/2 with Azhar Ali (3*) and skipper Babar Azam (1*) at the crease, trailing Sri Lanka by 198 runs.