Double delight for Sangakkara

Captain Kumar Sangakkara accepts the applause after Sri Lanka's shock victory over Pakistan caps a "great week"

An unlikely victory for Sri Lanka over Pakistan in the first Test at Galle capped a memorable week for captain Kumar Sangakkara.

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and fast bowler Thilan Thushara effected a stunning turnaround as Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 50 runs on the fourth morning to take a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.

Pakistan needed only 97 runs at the start of the day to overhaul a target of 168, with eight wickets in hand, but Herath’s four wickets saw them bowled out for 117 before lunch.

Sangakkara, whose wife gave birth to twins last week, was overjoyed with the victory in his first Test as captain after taking the reins from Mahela Jayawardene.

“It does feel great,” Sangakkara said. “I was lucky to be home for the birth of the twins and you can’t top that feeling. But to come here and win the first Test really made it a great week.”

Sri Lanka had chased the game for the better part of the last three days, but Herath, a last-minute replacement for the injured Muttiah Muralitharan, turned the game on its head with his fourth-morning spell.

“It’s been a rollercoaster ride and over the last two days we spent a lot of time thinking,” he said.

“The consensus at the start of today was to go out there, make sure we hit the right areas and try bowl a lot of balls in the channels.

“This wicket has been great for Test cricket and there is always something for everyone.

“The effort from the team was commendable, but especially Herath, (who) flew straight in here from England and (impressed with) the effort he put in, (as well as) Angelo Mathews in his first Test and Thushara.

“The rest of the guys too chipped in at crucial times and Mahela had to baby-sit me a few times throughout the innings, but overall it’s been a fantastic job. Credit must go to all the guys for the effort and belief they put in.”

Pakistan captain Younus Khan was struggling to come to terms with how his side snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

“The thought of losing this game didn’t even occur to me because we were in a good position at the start this morning,” he said.

“The thing which did us in was the lack of a partnership. If we had got one good partnership of about 50 to 60 runs we could have made it.

“But all credit to Sangakkara and his bowlers. They put pressure on us early and forced us into making mistakes.”