{"id":4073,"date":"2026-11-09T15:03:46","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T10:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4073"},"modified":"2026-11-09T15:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T10:03:46","slug":"openers-give-pakistan-strong-start-against-sri-lanka-in-rawalpindi-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4073","title":{"rendered":"Openers give Pakistan strong start against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Pakistan were on course to set a challenging target against Sri Lanka in the Rawalpindi Test after their batters gave them a good start on Monday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan\u2019s opening pair provided a solid start of 86 runs before Azaan Awais was dismissed for 30.<\/p>\n<p>Making his Test debut, Tayyab Arif struck an impressive half-century off 46 balls and scored 57 before returning to the pavilion.<\/p>\n<p>Captain Babar Azam, who appeared in good touch, also scored a fifty before being dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>Mohammed Taha and Saud Shakeel were at the crease to build a strong partnership.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan handed Test caps to four players for the match, with Tayyab Arif, Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Taha and Saqib Khan making their debuts.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the toss, Sri Lankan captain Kusal Mendis said the team had included four fast bowlers in the playing XI.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan captain Babar Azam said his side would look to play to its strengths during the opening session.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the team also had several experienced players in its lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan have handed Test caps to four players for the opening match against Sri Lanka. They include Tayyab Arif, Mohammad Taha, Arafat Minhas and Saqib Khan.<\/p>\n<p>Babar Azam, Azaan Awais, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Abbas, Razaullah and Ghazi Ghori are also part of the Pakistan squad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan were on course to set a challenging target against Sri Lanka in the Rawalpindi Test after their batters gave them a good start on Monday. Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first. Pakistan\u2019s opening pair provided a solid start of 86 runs before Azaan Awais was dismissed for 30. Making his Test debut, Tayyab Arif struck an impressive half-century off 46 balls and scored 57 before returning to the pavilion. Captain Babar Azam, who appeared in good touch, also scored a fifty before being&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}