Toss: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bat first, both teams decided to make 1 change each, Saeed Ajmal came in the line-up replacing Junaid Khan while Sri Lanka decided to include Dhammika Prasad in place of Nuwan Kulasekara


Teams:

Sri Lanka: TM Dilshan, WU Tharanga, KC Sangakkara†, DPMD Jayawardene, AD Mathews*, S Prasanna, SMA Priyanjan, NLTC Perera, KTGD Prasad, HMRKB Herath, SL Malinga

Pakistan: Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal†, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Fawad Alam, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan



Pakistan Innings Pakistan's innings suffered an early setback when Dhammika Prasad removed Sharjeel Khan with a good length ball that was angled across the left-hander, the ball took a thick outside edge and flew straight to second slip. Pakistani batsmen were struggling to score runs because of the immaculate bowling from the Sri Lankan bowlers, Ahmed Shehzad tried to manufacture a shot and break the shackles but he mistimed the shot and dragged a good length ball, with no feet movement , right into the hands of mid-on.


Things went from bad to worse for Pakistan when Mohammad Hafeez was given out after he was struck on his pads, Hafeez decided to go for a review but according to hawk-eye the ball was clipping the leg stump which meant the umpire's decision stayed and Pakistan lost their review. Just as Pakistan were looking like they might get a partnership going, Misbah-ul-Haq was runout by Dilshan, leaving Pakistan in all sorts of trouble. Umar Akmal was the next to go, he could only score 7 runs before top edging one high in the air, Malinga made no mistake and took a good, tumbling catch.

Pakistan lost their sixth wicket when Sohaib Maqsood fell victim to a sharp bouncer from Thisara Perera, Sangakkara took a brilliant diving catch behind the stumps. Shahid Afridi got out in the very next over when he mistimed a shot straight to the fielder at sweeper position . The collapse continued when Wahab Riaz edged one to the keeper, Wahab Riaz didn't look happy with the decision but there were no more reviews left for Pakistan so Wahab had to take the long walk back. Pakistan were struggling at 81/8 (26 ovs) when rain stopped play, play resumed after a slight delay, the match was reduced to 48 overs.


Pakistan lost their ninth wicket only 2 overs after the play resumed when Saeed Ajmal tried to play a pull shot but he mistimed it and lobbed the ball into the hands of mid-wicket. Mohammad Irfan was the last man to get out when he tried to slog sweep a flighted delivery from Herath but the ball snuck under his bat and crashed into the stumps.

Pakistan were all out for 102 runs.

Fall Of Wickets


1-4 (Sharjeel Khan, 2.3 ov)
2-14 (Ahmed Shehzad, 6.4 ov)
3-14 (Mohammad Hafeez, 7.3 ov)
4-47 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 15.5 ov)
5-55 (Umar Akmal, 18.2 ov)
6-73 (Sohaib Maqsood, 22.4 ov)
7-76 (Shahid Afridi, 23.5 ov)
8-77 (Wahab Riaz, 24.2 ov)
9-88 (Saeed Ajmal, 28.2 ov)
10-102 (Mohammad Irfan, 32.1 ov)


Sri Lanka Innings Sri Lanka were off to a flying start in chase of a D/L revised target of 101 in 48 overs, the hosts raced to 28 runs in just 3 overs. With only 101 runs to chase, it was an ideal start by Sri Lanka.

Mohammad Irfan removed Tharanga just before the lunch break, Tharanga tried to drive one through the covers, but he ended up inside edging the ball onto middle stump. Sri Lanka continued to stroll towards the target without much trouble. Pakistan got their second wicket when Wahab Riaz dismissed Kumar Sangakkara on 2, the ball took an outside edge and flew straight to second slip. Dilshan was lucky to survive when he was dropped by Saeed Ajmal of his own bowling, Dilshan got down the pitch and drove the ball back down the ground, Ajmal dived to his right, but could not hold on.


The hosts looked at ease as they moved towards the target effortlessly. Saeed Ajmal removed Mahela Jayawardene when Sri Lanka needed just 1 more run to win, Mahela was undone by a doosra, he misread the turn and edged one to the slip fielder.

Dilshan hit Shahid Afridi for a four to not only win the game for his team but he also brought up his fifty. Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets (with 178 balls remaining) (D/L method)


Fall Of Wickets

1-46 (Tharanga, 6.6 ov)
2-59 (Sangakkara, 9.4 ov)
3-100 (Jayawardene, 17.5 ov)

Match Summary:

Sri Lanka dominated the proceedings from the word go with Pakistan always behind the 8 ball right from the start. They could not recover after they lost early wickets. Fawad Alam was the only Pakistani batsman who showed some fight scoring 38* but he got no support from the other end. 102 was never going to be enough against a strong Sri Lankan batting line up and Sri Lanka duly chased down the target with ease and also sealed a comprehensive series win.

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