Pakistan’s attack squeezed Sri Lanka’s batters: their seamers bossed the powerplay, before Mohammad Nawaz claimed three wickets through the middle. Sri Lanka could muster no more than 128 for 7, and Pakistan strode to the target in 15.3 overs, with seven wickets to spare.
Sahibzada Farhan led the chase from the top of the order, with 80 not out off 45 balls. His knock, in fact, was the only real fluent innings in this game. Janith Liyanage – the next-best scorer with 41 not out – struck at only 108. On the other hand, Farhan hit five sixes and five fours in the innings. His most productive partnership was with Babar Azam – the two put on 69 together.
The victory puts Pakistan at the top of the tri-series table with two victories. Sri Lanka are the only winless side, and also have the worst net run rate by a distance, having now suffered two exceedingly heavy losses.
Pakistan peg Sri Lanka back in the powerplay
Kamil Mishara made the big plays for Sri Lanka early in their innings, hitting 22 off his first 11 balls. But Mishara misread a slower ball from Faheem Ashraf and holed out to mid off. After he was dismissed early in the fourth over, they managed only one further boundary in the powerplay. Then, in Ashraf’s next over, Kusal Mendis was run out attempting a needless second. Sri Lanka finished the powerplay on 44 for 2.
Nawaz dominates the middle overs
Nawaz bowled an unbroken four-over spell starting with the eighth over, took 3 for 16, and was virtually unhittable – so accurate were his overs, and so cleverly did he vary his pace. He didn’t concede a boundary, and his third over was probably the best of the match – he first bowled Kusal Perera with a delivery that ripped through the left-hander’s gate, before slipping a straight one past Dasun Shanaka’s defences. In his final over, he had Kusal Mendis caught excellently on the deep-midwicket boundary by Mohammad Wasim Jr, who tossed the ball in the air as he was going over the rope, before regaining his footing inside the field and completing the catch.
Farhan blasts Sri Lanka
It didn’t take long for him to get going. By the time he’d faced ten balls, Farhan had hit two fours and a six. His main hitting zones were in a broad V, with the vast majority of his boundaries coming in the arc between cover and midwicket. He was especially severe on the legspinners – he hit 23 off 12 against Wanindu Hasaranga, and 21 off 13 off V Viyaskanth. Farhan hit the winning runs – a four down the ground off Eshan Malinga.
Viyaskanth breaks new ground
Never before have Sri Lanka fielded a born-and-raised player from the Jaffna peninsula, although cricket has been popular in the north for well over a century. This is largely because of a 27-year Civil War in the region, which prevented many northerners from pursuing cricket. Legspinner V Viyaskanth had played a T20I before, in the Asian Games, to which Sri Lanka sent only an emerging team. This was his first major international appearance, and as such, the first appearance for a Jaffna player in a televised international match. His figures read 0 for 28 from four overs.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan 131 for 3 (Farhan 80*, Chameera 2-29, Shanaka 1-14) beat Sri Lanka 128 for 7 (Liyanage 41*, Nawaz 3-16, Mirza 1-26) by seven wickets.
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