Prasad double strike stalls Pakistan

Sri Lanka medium pacer Dhammika Prasad removed the Pakistan openers in quick succession to stall the hosts' progress on the second morning of the second Test being played in Dubai on Thursday.

Pakistan had dominated the opening day's play to dismiss Sri Lanka for 239 on Wednesday but found the going much tougher a day later as the tourists applied pressure.

Resuming on 42 without loss, Pakistan could only add 53 runs in the session to reach the lunch interval on 95-2 after Prasad had removed Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar midway through the morning session at the Dubai International Stadium.

Azhar Ali (17) and Younis Khan (13) were the not out batsmen at the interval, slowly rebuilding the innings with a stand of 31 following Prasad's double breakthrough.

The Pakistan openers had advanced their partnership to 63 before Prasad struck in the 22nd over, sending a full delivery across Taufeeq (27), who could only edge behind to give debut wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva his first catch in Test cricket.

Two overs later, Prasad struck again when he removed Hafeez lbw for 33 when the right-hander misjudged a sharp delivery that came back from outside off and rapped his pads in front of the stumps.

Sri Lanka battled to earn a draw in last week's first Test in Abu Dhabi while the third and final match of the series will be played in Sharjah from November 3.