From World T20 high, Pakistan come down to Galle low

KARACHI - A fortnight after their team’s World Twenty20 triumph at Lords, Pakistan cricket fans had a rude awakening Tuesday when Younis Khans men crashed to a 50-run defeat in their first Test against Sri Lanka from a seemingly winning position at Galle.

The defeat means that Pakistan’s poor run in Test cricket continues as it has failed to win a single Test in the last 30 months.

Pakistans last Test win came way back on January 22, 2007, when it defeated South Africa at Port Elizabeth. Inzamam-ul-Haq, then the teams captain, scored a precious 92 while Shoaib Akhtar had a ferocious first innings spell claiming four wickets. However, Pakistan went on to lose the series 1-2.

Since then Pakistan had three different captains but none of them managed a Test victory. Pakistan hosted South Africa in a two-match Test series in 2007 and lost 0-1. They toured India in the same year and lost the three-match series 0-1 following a defeat in the first Test in Delhi.

Pakistan hosted Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series earlier this year with new captain Younis Khan hitting a match-saving 313 in Karachi to draw the first Test. The second Test in Lahore was abandoned when the Sri Lankan cricket team on way to the Gaddafi Stadium was attacked by terrorists.

Since January 2007, Pakistan has lost five Test, and drawn five. The last series win was a 3-0 clean sweep against the West Indies at home in 2006.