"Ball of the Century Nomination"- Twitter reacts to Yasir Shah bowling a ripper to dismiss well-set Kusal Mendis on Day 3
The third day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan is underway. The hosts, with a lead of just four runs in the first innings, batted really well in their second innings. The Sri Lankan batters held their composure against some good bowling from both Pakistani spinners.
Mohammad Nawaz and Yasir Shah bowled very tight lines and the pitch also made some of the balls very lethal that looked unplayable. And one such delivery was bowled by the veteran leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who dismissed the well-settled Kusal Mendir, who was batting 76 runs and was looking to get a big score.
Yasir bowled a ripper that turned a country mile, from way down to the leg-stump and hit the off-stump. This happened on the first ball of the 56th over of the Sri Lankan second innings. The leg-spinner bowled that turned from leg-side and squared Mendis up to take the off-stumps.
Many fans also made the similarities to the delivery bowled by the late Shane Warne to Mike Gatting in 1994, which was termed as the "Ball of the Century". This is also the comeback match for Yasir, and he has done a really good job so far with the ball. He took two wickets in the first innings.
He has taken three wickets in the second as well. Sri Lanka's lead has crossed the 270-run mark. with two wickets in hand. So it will be interesting to see how long the hosts can stretch the lead and how Babar Azam and his team will revert to this chase.