An opening blitz of 68 off just 40 deliveries was the prime reason for Sri Lanka's win against Pakistan in the 2nd ODI

By PakPassion.net Staff (15th July, 2015)

Result : Sri Lanka won by 2 wickets (with 11 balls remaining) Pakistan 287/8 (50.0 ov), Sri Lanka 288/8 (48.1 ov)


Toss: Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first

Pakistan already having the upper hand with a 1-0 lead in the series went in with an unchanged side. Sri Lanka however made 2 changes bringing in Pathirana and Pradeep who came in for Prasanna and Lakmal. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first due to the dew factor later on in the second innings. Azhar Ali and Ahmed Shehzad started well seeing off the early swing and put up a partnership of 59 runs until Shehzad was bowled by debutant Pathirana. Centurion from the previous match Mohammad Hafeez didn't last long and was also dismissed by Pathirana. Babar Azam also fell to another spinner Siriwardene and Pakistan were in a spot of bother at 96-3.

Azhar Ali and Shoaib Malik then put up a partnership of 83 runs where Shoaib Malik scored at more then run a ball. He was eventually dismissed for 51. Azhar Ali follow as he caught in the deep off Dilshan for 79. Pakistan were 5 down for 197 and in danger of a collapse. Sarfraz Ahmed was judged LBW off Malinga for 7 as Pakistan lost their 6th. Mohammad Rizwan took over the charge and looked busy on crease picking up the gaps and odd boundaries along with Anwar Ali. Pakistan scored 88 in the last 10 overs where Mohammad Rizwan and Anwar Ali contributed with 52 and 29* respectively to give Pakistan a strong total of 287-8 in their 50 overs.

Sri Lanka got off to a splendid start courtesy Kusal Perera who smashed the Pakistani bowlers all over the park to being up the fifty in the 4th over. Kusal brought up his fifty in 17 balls equaling the record for the second fastest in ODI. He was dismissed by Rahat when he picked up the the fielder in the deep behind square after scoring 68 from 25 balls. Dilshan on the other hand continued with rotating the score boards. Sri Lanka eventually lost Tharanga who was clean bowled by Rahat Ali at the score of 140-2. Sri Lanka lost 3 wickets for 6 runs when Rahat picked up Dilshan and Tharanga while Mathews was run out and Sri Lanka were down to 5-159. Hafeez picked up Siriwardene LBW for 26 as Pakistan tightened the grip on the match.

The home team with Chandimal and Pathirana built a strong partnership of 52 runs and threatened to take the match away until Hafeez came to the rescue to pick another leftie, Parithana to give Pakistan their 7th wicket and for Sri Lanka still another 40 to get. Chandimal score 48* for 63 balls and Sri Lanka crossed the line with 2 wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare to level the 5 match series 1-1.

Fall of wickets (Pakistan) :

Shehzad 1-59 (13.5 overs)
Hafeez 2-75 (17.5 overs)
Babar 3-96 (23.1 overs)
Malik 4-179 (36.3 overs)
Azhar Ali 5-197 (39.4 overs)
Sarfraz 6-217 (42.1 overs)
Rizwan 7-273 (48.4 overs)
Yasir 8-278 (49.1 overs)

Fall of wickets (Sri Lanka):

Kusal 1-92 (8.2 overs)
Tharanga 2-140 (18.3 overs)
Dilshan 3-155 (22.2 overs)
Mathews 4-157 (23.3 overs)
Thirimanne 5-159 (24.4 overs)
Siriwardena 6-196 (31.2 overs)
Pathirana 7-248 (39.3 overs)
Thisara 8-285 (47.1 overs)

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