A fighting 55 not out in 48 balls from Pathum Nissanka and economical and incisive spells from spinners scripted Sri Lanka’s comfortable five-wicket win over Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday in what was a dress rehearsal for the final on Sunday.
The win took Sri Lanka to the final unscathed – Dasun Shanaka’s men finished the Super-4 with three straight wins – while this was Pakistan’s only loss in the round.
Pakistan, asked to bat, were bowled out for 121 with five balls to spare. Wanindu Hasaranga bowled four brilliant overs, returning three for 21. He accounted for Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who top-scored with 30 off 29, but the highlight of his spell came in the 15th over when he bowled Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Ali on consecutive balls.
Maheesh Theekshana, bowling at frugal 5.25 runs per over, returned two for 21, and off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva’s four overs leaked only 18 runs and provided Sri Lanka the important wicket of Khushdil Shah.
Right-arm fast bowler Pramod Madushan took Pakistan’s first and last wicket – dismissing Mohammad Rizwan in the fourth over and Haris Rauf on the first ball of the last.
All-rounder Mohammad Nawaz gave a glimpse of hope to the Pakistan fans of setting a challenging total with his 18-ball 26 in which he spanked two sixes and a four, but was run out in the penultimate over.
Intense first overs by Mohammad Hasnain and Haris lit up the Pakistani contingent of the crowd at the ‘Ring of Fire’ when the Sri Lankan run chase commenced. Hasnain, with a scorcher, squared up Kusal Mendis to induce a leading edge for Iftikhar to catch safely at the first slip. In the second over, Danushka Gunathilaka went chasing Haris’ back of the length delivery – that moved away – and edged it into Rizwan’s gloves.
From there on, Sri Lanka launched a counter-attack, despite the dismissal of de Silva in the fifth over. Nissanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa stitched up a 51-run partnership and following the dismissal of the latter, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka continued the attack with his 16-ball 21.
Hasnain and Haris finished with two wickets each, giving 21 and 19 runs.
Sri Lanka rolled over the target with three overs to spare.
Scores in brief:
Pakistan 121 all out, 19.1 overs (Babar Azam 30, Mohammad Nawaz 26; Wanindu Hasaranga 3-21, Pramod Madushan 2-21, Maheesh Theekshana 2-21)
Sri Lanka 124-5, 17 overs (Pathum Nissanka 55 not out, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 24, Dasun Shanaka 21; Haris Rauf 2-19, Mohammad Hasnain 2-21)
Player of the match – Wanindu Hasaranga
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