Pakistan's first-Test star fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has a bruised knee and will not play in the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka starting Sunday. The 22-year-old Afridi was the pick of the seamers from either side in the first Test, finishing with four wickets in the first innings that Pakistan won by four wickets in Galle.  Pakistan team officials confirmed Friday that he would not play in the second Test. Afridi finished on 99 Test wickets at the end of Sri Lanka's first innings and hopes of him completing the milestone of 100 wickets in the second Test ended with the injury. Read: Pakistan lose openers after Sri Lanka post 222 in 1st Test Afridi, fielding at mid-wicket, dived in an attempt to cut off a Dinesh Chandimal boundary on day three and was seen hobbling off the field. He was taken for scans and although there was no fracture, swelling and pain ruled him out. Pakistan has uncapped quick Harris Rauf or seam bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf as replacements. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka brought in uncapped off-spinner Lakshitha Manasinghe after Maheesh Theekshana was ruled out of the match. Theekshana sustained a cut on his right index finger during the first Test. The hosts also recalled Pathum Nissanka, who had tested positive for Covid-19 during the Australia series.

Pakistan collapsed to 100-7 at tea against Mitchell Starc’s searing pace in reply to Australia's mammoth 556-9 declared on the third day of the second test on Monday. Starc picked up 3-24 in a superb spell of left-arm fast bowling which included the wickets of Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam off successive deliveries. Pakistan lost six wickets in the middle session for only 62 runs and still needs 257 runs to avoid the follow-on. Also read: Australia rattle 505-8 against Pakistan in 2nd Test Home captain Babar Azam was unbeaten on 29 with Hasan Ali yet to score. Babar survived a close lbw referral against Pat Cummins before he had scored. Australia made early inroads when leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson ran out Abdullah Shafique before lunch. Nathan Lyon then ignited the collapse immediately after lunch when Imam-ul-Haq played a terrible shot and holed out to mid-on before Starc ran through the middle order. Azhar played away from his body and Cameron Green took an edge in the slips while Alam was out plumb lbw following a vicious yorker. Rizwan Ali was beaten off the hat-trick ball before eventually succumbing to Cummins. Much like the first test, off-spinner Lyon came into the attack early and the occasional delivery by him and debutant Swepson turned off a slow wicket. Earlier, Cummins (34 not out) helped add a rapid 51 runs after Australia resumed its first innings on 505-8. Also read: Can’t express my feelings in words: Nigar Sultana after historic win against Pakistan Despite losing Starc (28) to the second ball, which gave Shaheen Afridi his first wicket, Cummins and Swepson (15 not out) scored freely against spinners Sajid Khan and Nauman Ali. Cummins lofted two sixes off left-armer Nauman, who ended up with 1-134 from 48 overs. Sajid took 2-167 from 57 overs.

Australia’s lower-order, led by Alex Carey’s 93, blunted the Pakistan bowling attack to reach 505-8 on the second day of the second test on Sunday. Carey missed out on a deserving century when he was clean bowled attempting an ambitious slog sweep against Pakistan skipper Babar Azam’s part-time off spin late on. Carey and Mitchell Starc, who was unbeaten on 28, nearly played out the entire last session as they put on 98 runs on a slow wicket to the frustration of Pakistan’s bowlers. Read:Shakib Al Hasan’s approaching milestone ahead of SA vs BAN series 2022 “You want to make those triple figures (and) the way the game’s going, it was quite an important knock in the end,” Carey told host broadcasters after batting for just over three hours and hitting seven fours and two sixes in his 159-ball effort. “It’s great to have 500 runs on the board. Hopefully the pitch starts to deteriorate tomorrow and we can create those 20 chances.” Starc joined Carey at the stroke of tea after Usman Khawaja played a marathon knock in the country of his birth and finally fell midway into the second session. Khawaja hit 160 in nine hours and 12 minutes before Australia continued to wore down the Pakistan bowlers for 180 overs spanning two days. It was Australia’s greatest number of overs batted in a test innings in Asia in 14 years, surpassing its 179.3 overs against India at Delhi in 2008 when it was bowled out for 577 runs. An occasional turn for spinners off a flat track gave Pakistan Khawaja’s wicket when off-spinner Sajid Khan (2-151) hit the top of the stump off a ball that drifted away enough from the left-hander. Carey and Starc dominated Pakistan with their near-century stand before Babar broke through to end another tough day in the field for the home side. Starc gave a chance on 3 but left-arm spinner Nauman Ali (1-115) couldn’t hold onto a return catch over his head early in the last session that was dominated by the tourists. Resuming on an overnight 127, Khawaja defied Pakistan pace and spin before he was finally undone by Sajid while attempting a defensive shot off his back foot. Khawaja raised his bat to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd, who chanted “Khawaja, Khawaja” as he left the field after his century in the city that was once home to his family. Khawaja scored just two more boundaries on Sunday to add to the 13 on day one, but tired the Pakistan bowlers through his sedate knock that came off 329 deliveries. Sajid picked up both his wickets in the most productive middle session for Pakistan with left-arm Nauman also clean bowling Cameroon Green (28) in the last over before the break to get his first wicket. Sajid earlier had Travis Head (23) lbw off a fuller delivery that didn’t spin enough as the batsman tried to play across the line and was struck low on the front pad. Read:Hafeez signs for Mohammedan to play Dhaka League Earlier, Khawaja added 28 to his overnight score in the first session as Australia added a further 81 for the loss of only nightwatchman Nathan Lyon’s (38) wicket after it resumed on an overnight 251-3. Fast bowlers Shaheen Afridi (0-85) and Hasan Ali (1-67) couldn’t get any lateral movement with the second new ball that was only 10 overs old and spinners Sajid and Nauman also couldn’t get the better of the patient Khawaja. Lyon defied Pakistan for an hour and 15 minutes but Pakistan had chances to break the stand. The home team called for a television referral against Lyon in the day’s third over bowled by Hasan Ali but the television replays suggested the ball could have missed the leg stump. Faheem Ashraf (2-55), who didn’t bowl in the last session, then dropped a one-handed catch off his own bowling when Lyon had reached 31 before the right-arm seamer finally broke the partnership when he knocked back Lyon’s middle stump. Australia’s first test in Pakistan since 1998 ended in a draw in Rawalpindi where the lifeless pitch was rated as below average by the ICC. “The weather is quite hot as compared to Rawalpindi and the cracks (in the pitch) will open up,” Ashraf said. “We could see a result in this test match.”

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced a 20-member squad for the second of the two-match Test series against Pakistan which is set to begin on December 4 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Ace allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and right-arm pacer Taskin Ahmed have made a return to Tests after recovering from leg and hand injuries. BCB called left-handed batter Mohammad Naim to Tests for the first time. He played a total of six First-class matches and scored 183 runs at an average of 16.63 with only a fifty. Read: BAN vs PAK Test Series 2021: Key Takeaways from the Series-Opening match Bangladesh have lost the first Test by eight wickets in Chattogram. Before the Test series, Bangladesh took on Pakistan in three T20Is and lost all of those matches. Bangladesh squad for 2nd Pakistan Test: Mominul Haque (Captain), Shadman Islam, Saif Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Yasir Ali, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Abu Jayed Rahi, Nayeem Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Khaled Ahmed, Shohidul Islam, and Mohammad Naim.

With a 242-run first-innings lead, Sri Lanka declared the second innings of Kandy at 194 for nine and set 437 for Bangladesh to win the series.  Bangladesh never won a Test chasing more than 215 runs. The highest successful chase in Tests is 418, which was scored by West Indies in 2003 against Australia. It means Bangladesh have to make a world record to win this game.  Read Also: Sri Lanka stretch lead over 400 as Bangladesh in more trouble Dimuth Karunaratne led Sri Lanka from the front by hitting yet another fifty in the series. He fell prey as Saif Hassan’s maiden Test wicket after scoring 66 in the second innings which helped Sri Lanka past the 400-run mark as their lead.  Angelo Mathews departed early in the morning but Dhananjaya de Silva added 41 in a quick move.  Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam registered a five-wicket haul while Mehidy Hasan Miraz took two wickets.  Read Also: Bangladesh's Greatest XI in Test cricket based only on Stats Earlier, Sri Lanka posted a mammoth total of 493 runs for seven in their first innings riding on the centuries of Dimuth Karunarate (118) and Lahiru Thirimanne (140) and Oshada Fernando scored 81. Niroshan Dickwella, the wicketkeeper-batsman, remained not-out for 77.  Taskin Ahmed was the best bowler for Bangladesh taking four wickets for 127 runs, which is now his best bowling figures in Tests.  In reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings, Bangladesh tumbled for only 251 runs despite a 90 from Tamim Iqbal. Most of the batsman have had a good start but they failed to come up with the big innings.  Read Also: BCB announces preliminary squad for Sri Lanka's tour of Bangladesh Mominul Haque ended up on 49 and Mushfiqur Rahim scored 40. The onus was on them to propel the Tigers to a safe position in this game, but they disappointed.  Sri Lankan debutant Praveen Jayawickrama, who got a chance to play this game due to injuries or off-form of the other spinners, bagged six wickets conceding 92 runs, which is now the best bowling for a Sri Lankan debutant in Tests.  

Mayank Agarwal posted his fourth test half-century as India trailed New Zealand by 105 runs with eight second innings wickets in hand at tea Sunday on the third day of the second test.

Sean Williams' first test century as the Zimbabwe captain led his side to 352-6 against Sri Lanka on Monday.

Travis Head signaled his coming of age as a test batsman by scoring a crucial century in Australia's first innings of 467 before New Zealand lost two wickets late on the second day of the second test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Opener Rory Burns reached his second test century, then was run out in a hairline decision which ended his 177-run partnership with Joe Root that had bolstered England's position on the third day of the second test against New Zealand.