Pakistan win SL series after third Test drawn

Sharjah: Pakistan clinched the three-Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 after the third and final cricket match ended in a draw at Sharjah stadium.

Persistent rain wiped out play in the pre-lunch session -- a two hours and 35 minutes delay -- which left Sri Lanka with little time to enforce a win despite declaring their second innings at 181-6, setting Pakistan a target of 255 in a possible of 61 overs. By tea, Sri Lanka had taken three early wickets and were pressing for a win. Pakistan lost a further fourth wicket when opener Taufiq Umar fell for 39, before they finished at 87-4 when umpires called off the match four overs earlier due to bad light. Skipper Misbah-ul Haq (nine) and Asad Shafiq (seven) survived some anxious moments to salvage a draw. Pakistan won the second Test in Dubai by nine wickets after the first in Abu Dhabi ended in a draw. The result kept Pakistan on the sixth ranking, as they needed a 2-0 victory to jump one place up and replace Sri Lanka on fifth. Pakistan started positively before losing Mohammad Hafeez (13), Azhar Ali (seven) and Younis Khan (11) in the space of 37 runs. Hafeez had struck a boundary in the first over by Chanaka Welegedara but fell in an unwise manner, run out after taking a sharp single as he failed to beat a direct throw from mid-wicket by substitute Lahiru Thirimanne. Ali, who scored a maiden hundred in the second Test, was trapped leg-before wicket by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath before Younis played an uppish drive off Welegedara and was caught at mid-on. PTI