Thisara Perera runs through Pak top order

Sri Lanka seamer Thisara Perera claimed 3-31 on a lively wicket to reduce Pakistan to 81-4 at lunch on the first day of the third and final test on Sunday. Sri Lanka chose to bowl after winning the toss and Perera exploited the favorable conditions by removing Taufeeq Umar for 29, Mohammad Hafeez for 22 and Azhar Ali for a duck. At lunch, Asad Shafiq was not out on 12 while captain Misbah-ul-Haq was unbeaten on 10. [caption id=“attachment_371383” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Perera took 3-31: AP[/caption]Perera, one of the three changes made by Sri Lanka, clean bowled Hafeez with a delivery that seamed back into the right-hander before Ali offered a chest high catch to Thilan Samaraweera at gully. Umar struggled against Sri Lanka seamers in a 35-run opening stand with Hafeez and was let off the hook when Tharanga Paranavitana dropped a sitter in the first slip off Nuwan Kulasekera when he was on 1. However, Perera had the left-hander trapped leg before wicket with a sharp delivery that caught the batsman on his crease. In between Perera’s strikes, Kulasekera induced a thin edge off former skipper Younis Khan’s bat to a diving Prasanna Jayawardene behind the wicket as Pakistan limped to 56-4. Misbah and Shafiq then played out cautiously and saw off the last hour, adding 25 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand. Sri Lanka had to leave out opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan to be with his ill children and was replaced by Dinesh Chandimal while Perera and Dilhara Fernando came in place of Suraj Randiv and Nuwan Pardeep. Pakistan, trailing 1-0 in the series, made two changes with fit again Umar Gul and Mohammad Sami replacing Abdur Rehman and Aizaz Cheema. Sri Lanka is looking for its first series win since beating New Zealand at home in 2009. Associated Press