Toss: Sri Lanka. Test debut: U. D. U. Chandana. Test cricket came back to Dhaka after almost three decades' absence since Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan. Bangladeshi cricket enthusiasts had hoped to have their own Test team by the end of the millenium. Instead they were given the fourth neutral-ground Test in cricket history, after the three in the 1912 triangular in England. Pakistan returned to the much-rebuilt stadium to dispose of a depleted and pedestrian Sri Lanka by an innings and 175 runs inside four days.

Sri Lanka won the toss on a sporting pitch, and volunteered to negotiate the opening challenge of the guileful Wasim Akram and the explosive Shoaib Akhtar. But they failed to survive the first half-hour's battle for survival, crashing to 19 for three in the fourth over. The innings never really recovered from these early blows. Despite a resolute 72 by Aravinda de Silva, returning from injury to assume the captaincy in Ranatunga's continuing absence, Sri Lanka folded for an inadequate 231. Off-spinner Arshad Khan grabbed five for 38 in only his third Test, a dramatic elevation given his lack of success in Dhaka league cricket earlier in the season.

The second day was a grinder. Pakistan scored 266 in 90 overs and lost only their openers. They finished at 299 for two in exactly 100 overs - if the match was drawn, they would be champions, having six bonus points to Sri Lanka's two. The Sri Lankan bowlers had not managed a single point and seemed devoid of variation and insight. The experienced Vaas was unexpectedly erratic, and the fielding was shoddy. But Ijaz Ahmed and Inzaman-ul-Haq rediscovered their form and accelerated towards maiden Test double-hundreds. They had added an herculean 352 for the third wicket when Inzaman, then 156, retired with stomach cramps. Shortly afterwards, Ijaz was stumped for an entertaining 211, which had taken 519 minutes and 372 balls; he struck 23 fours and a six. Inzaman later resumed to keep his own 200 in 535 minutes and 397 balls, with 22 fours and two effortless sixes. He got there just before debutant leg-spinner Upul Chandana wrapped up the innings with his sixth wicket - a splendid performance, chiefly responsible for Pakistan's decline from 483 for two to 594, when other heads were drooping. Pakistan still led by 363.

But the double-centurions' limelight was stolen in the closing moments of the third day, when Wasim claimed his second hat-trick in two Tests to have Sri Lanka reeling at nine for three. At the end of his opening over, he had Gunawardene caught at gully, then bowled night-watchman Vaas; at the start of his second, Jayawardene edged to third slip. Wasim was only the third bowler to take two Test hat-tricks, following Australians Hugh Trumble and Jimmy Matthews, both before the First World War; he also had two hat-tricks in one-day internationals (the Matthews feat came in one match which, curiously enough, was also on a neutral ground, against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1912). The wickets made Wasim the fifth-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, with 378.

Pakistan's victory became a formality on the fourth day. Tillekeratne, who had earlier made three dismissals as substitute wicket-keeper after Kaluwitharana succumbed to fever, scored a gritty fifty, lasting three hours. But onlu a last-wicket stand of 73, the best of the innings, with Sajeewa de Silva, got Sri Lanka to 188. The inaugural Asian Test Championship final had been overwhelmingly one-sided; crowds, who had hoped for a Pakistan-India showcase, largely stayed away.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd