The Pakistani batter took a spectacular catch at short-leg on Day 4 to dismiss wicketkeeper Sadeera Samarawickrama.
Abdullah Shafique pulled off one of the best close-in catches taken in Test cricket in recent times, executing a one-handed stunner on Day 4 of the ongoing Galle Test to help dismiss Sri Lanka’s Sadeera Samarawickrama.
Fielding at short-leg, Shafique took a low diving catch with his right hand when the ball could’ve easily slipped past him and fallen on the turf. It was on its way down after Samarawickrama tried to flick a delivery from part-timer Agha Salman while advancing down the ground.
To make the catch more remarkable, Abdullah Shafique had initially moved squarer from his original position and needed to then quickly resurrect his ground to grab hold of the ball by stretching his fingers to every inch possible.
The clip of the grab has gone viral on Twitter with good reason as Shafique not only exhibited his smarts but also his agility and nimble footedness in executing the dismissal, which Sri Lanka would believe they were rather unfortunate with given that Samarawickrama only needed a couple of inches for the ball to evade the fielder’s diving hand.
Watch: Babar Azam with a one-handed screamer in the Galle Test
The catch arrived on the penultimate ball of the 56th over in the Sri Lankan third-innings. Reeling behind in the contest at 175/5 after conceding a possible match-losing first-innings deficit of 149 to Pakistan, Sri Lanka were handed another major blow to their chances with the Samarawickrama dismissal.
This is pure sorcery. ft Abdullah Shafique. pic.twitter.com/LRTn987DXr
— Shafqat Shabbir (@Chefkat23) July 19, 2023
The Lankan Lions would believe they were unlucky to be at the receiving end of such a magnficent catch, one where Abdullah Shafique initially got his standing wrong by moving before the ball was even delivered but then resurrected his mistake to such great degree it resulted in a memorable grab, taken nearly off the fingernails.
Shafique would realise what he pulled off when he was surrounded by his Pakistani teammates, who acknowledged the opening batter’s eye-catching act. They were also all jubilant knowing they had just taken major strides into pulling off a victory in Galle in the opening Test of the two-match series.
