Sri Lanka 472 (Kumar Sangakkara 199*, Tillakaratne Dilshan 101, Saeed Ajmal 5-146) and 137-5 declared (Dilshan 56, Tharanga Paranavitana 25, Junaid Khan 3-44) beat Pakistan 100 (Younis Khan 29, Mohammad Ayub 25, Suraj Randiv 4-13) and 300 (Younis Khan 87, Asad Shafiq 80, Nuwan Kulasekara 3-48) by 209 runs.

Sri Lanka forced their way to a comprehensive victory with a superb team work over the competent Pakistan in the opening Test at Galle.

Sri Lanka smashed 472 runs in their first innings followed by 137-5, declared in the second innings. Pakistan surrendered for 100 mere runs in the first innings and showed some resistance by reaching 300 in their second innings.

Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his authoritative unbeaten knock of 199 in the first innings.

The first Test of the three match series which was the fourth day of the encounter came to an end on Monday, June 25, 2012, at Galle International Stadium.

Earlier, Pakistan started the fourth day in a dismal situation at 36 in 15 overs for the loss of their three top order batsmen. Younis Khan had yet to open his account and the night watchman, Saeed Ajmal was at the crease for 11 runs. The visitors faced an early set back when Saeed Ajmal ran himself out for 12 runs on the second ball of the 17^th over.  The youngster Asad Shafiq, replaced him in the centre and initiated his innings with a four in the 19^th over.

Younis Khan got a life on the fifth ball of the 24^th over at 9 runs when he was given the benefit of doubt on a low catch held by Tillakaratne Dilshan. The duo kept on consolidating, crawled to 100 in the 43^rd over and took the score to 108 at the lunch interval. Asad Shafiq was the most aggressive of the two and achieved his fifty on the fifth ball of the 54^th over with a four as Younis followed him in the 60^th over.

The batsmen avoided any undue risks but utilized all possible scoring chances and gathered 13 runs in the 68^th over with the assistance of 3 fours. They shared a 151 runs solid partnership for the fifth wicket and enhanced the score to 189 when Asad Shafiq was caught smartly in the slip off Rangana Herath for 80 runs. Younis Khan became the next victim at 212 runs after contributing a hard fought 87 runs and Pakistan was reeling at 7-243 in 94.4 overs.

The wicketkeeper batsman, Adnan Akmal secured one end as the tail of Pakistan vanished without much defiance. He remained unbeaten for 40 as the whole team was bowled out for 300 runs in 114 overs.

Nuwan Kulasekara and Suraj Randiv were the main wicket takers with three wickets each, Rangana Herath held two and Nuwan Pradeep chipped in with one wicket.

Sri Lanka won the match with a huge margin of 209 runs and it looks like they are back on the winning track in Test cricket after the retirement of their great off spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan. The second Test of the series will commence from June 30, 2012, at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo.