The young and inexperienced Sri Lanka T20I outfit sans their regular leader beat the world’s number 1 ranked T20I team Pakistan today in the 1st game of the 3-match T20 series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Sri Lanka started to smell victory early in the second innings when Nuwan Pradeep removed cousin brothers, Babar Azam and Umar Akmal in consecutive balls of the 2nd over. This boosted the entire Lankan camp, who were energetic and lighting quick in defending their 165-run target.
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Stand-in skipper Dasun Shanaka led the team by example, claiming a brilliant run-out to break the most threatening stand of the Pakistani innings between skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed and top-scorer Iftikhar Ahmed.
The wrist-spinning duo Lakshan Sandakan and Wanindu De Silva then made things really tight with some disciplined bowling to increase Pakistan’s required run-rate and build pressure on them. Sandakan however finished wicket-less despite a probing spell of 4 overs while Hasaranga finished with 2 wickets.
The fast bowlers gave nothing away as T20 specialist Isuru Udana finished off things with two back to back wickets to go with his early wicket of Ahmed Shehzad. As the two experienced seamers shared 6 wickets, young Kasun Rajitha finished his economical spell with a wicket. Interestingly, the Lankans managed the dew factor in Lahore smartly, avoiding the disadvantage they were expected to have when Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and opted field first (before the dew gets worse).
Early in the day, Danushka Gunathilaka once again set the tone for Sri Lanka to go on and set a competitive total of 165 along with Avishka Fernando, who surprisingly didn’t look in his natural rhythm. However, he managed to rotate the strike and made sure to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Debutant Bhanuka Rajapaksa made the most of opportunity as he smashed the Pakistani bowlers to score 32 runs of just 22 deliveries, making a strong statement about his quality as a T20 batsman. His innings eventually ended as the first wicket of 19-year old Mohammad Hasnain’s first international hat-trick.
Hasnain’s hat-trick was completed with the wickets of Dasun Shanaka and Shehan Jayasuriya. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka this hat-trick dented their progress and restricted them to 165.
Interestingly this is Sri Lanka’s first win against Pakistan in a T20I since they last beat them in December 2013 under the leadership of Dinesh Chandimal in Dubai.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danushka Gunathilaka | lbw b Shadab Khan | 57 | 38 | 8 | 1 | 150.00 |
| Avishka Fernando | run out (Shadab Khan) | 33 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 97.06 |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksha | lbw b Mohammad Hasnain | 32 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 145.45 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Babar Azam b Mohammad Hasnain | 17 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 170.00 |
| Shehan Jayasuriya | c Shadab Khan b Mohammad Hasnain | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Isuru Udana | not out | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | not out | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 116.67 |
| Extras | 12 (b 0 , lb 6 , nb 0, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 165/5 (20 Overs, RR: 8.25) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-84 (9.4) Danushka Gunathilaka, 2-120 (14.4) Avishka Fernando, 3-135 (15.6) Bhanuka Rajapaksha, 4-153 (18.1) Dasun Shanaka, 5-153 (18.2) Shehan Jayasuriya, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imad Wasim | 4 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Faheem Ashraf | 3 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 10.33 | |
| Mohammad Hasnain | 4 | 0 | 37 | 3 | 9.25 | |
| Mohammad Amir | 4 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 6.25 | |
| Shadab Khan | 4 | 0 | 35 | 1 | 8.75 | |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babar Azam | c Minod Bhanuka b Nuwan Pradeep | 13 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 130.00 |
| Ahmed Shehzad | b Isuru Udana | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 44.44 |
| Umar Akmal | lbw b Nuwan Pradeep | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Sarfaraz Ahmed | b Wanindu Hasaranga | 24 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | run out (Lakshan Sandakan) | 25 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 104.17 |
| Asif Ali | c Danushka Gunathilaka b Wanindu Hasaranga | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Imad Wasim | c Wanindu Hasaranga b Kasun Rajitha | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 140.00 |
| Faheem Ashraf | c Danushka Gunathilaka b Nuwan Pradeep | 8 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Shadab Khan | c Avishka Fernando b Isuru Udana | 6 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 85.71 |
| Mohammad Amir | c Danushka Gunathilaka b Isuru Udana | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Mohammad Hasnain | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 7 (b 0 , lb 5 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 101/10 (17.4 Overs, RR: 5.72) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-13 (1.5) Babar Azam, 2-13 (1.6) Umar Akmal, 3-22 (4.2) Ahmed Shehzad, 4-68 (11.4) Iftikhar Ahmed, 5-76 (13.2) Sarfaraz Ahmed, 6-85 (14.4) Imad Wasim, 7-87 (15.2) Asif Ali, 8-96 (16.4) Faheem Ashraf, 9-101 (17.3) Shadab Khan, 10-101 (17.4) Mohammad Amir, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kasun Rajitha | 4 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Nuwan Pradeep | 3 | 0 | 21 | 3 | 7.00 | |
| Isuru Udana | 2.4 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 4.58 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 20 | 2 | 5.00 | |
| Lakshan Sandakan | 4 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 6.00 | |
