RAWALPINDI (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan survived a middle-order scare to beat Sri Lanka by 37 runs in Rawalpindi on Sunday, opening their ODI tri-series against Sri Lanka and England with a win built on Salman Agha’s fourth one-day century.
Put in to bat, Pakistan were sent in by Sri Lanka and lost both openers cheaply to the extra pace of Dilshan Madushanka, with Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman both undone by the short ball. Babar Azam and Saad Baig, on debut behind the stumps, rebuilt with a stand of 74 before Babar fell five runs short of a half-century, beaten for pace by Eshan Malinga. Baig miscued soon after, leaving Pakistan 97 for 4 inside 22 overs.
Salman Agha, restored to the side after being dropped from the Test team and the T20I captaincy in the past two months, anchored the innings from there. He put on 97 with Hasan Nawaz for the fifth wicket and 64 with Arafat Minhas for the sixth, timing the chase of the required rate so precisely that he brought up his fifty off 48 balls before accelerating late. His 107 came off 90 balls. Malinga and Asitha Fernando pulled things back at the death, Malinga finishing with 4 for 46 as Pakistan were bowled out for 305 with two balls unused.
Sri Lanka’s reply looked to be heading for a successful chase of 306 when Pavan Rathnayake and Janith Liyanage put on 119 for the fifth wicket, leaving the visitors needing only 55 from the last seven overs. But Liyanage was chipped to long-on off Haris Rauf with 53 still required, and the innings folded: Sri Lanka lost their last five wickets for just 15 runs. Rathnayake made 79 and Liyanage 60, but Shaheen Shah Afridi finished with 3 for 55 as Pakistan’s pace trio shared nine of the ten wickets to fall.
The result puts Pakistan top of the three-team table after the first round of matches. The tri-series, which doubles as early preparation for next year’s ODI World Cup cycle, continues on Tuesday when Pakistan face England at the same venue — England’s first men’s ODI series in Pakistan in 21 years — before the action shifts to Lahore later in the month and a final at Gaddafi Stadium on October 31.
Scorecard: Pakistan 305 all out, 49.5 overs (Salman Agha 107, Babar Azam 45; Eshan Malinga 4-46, Asitha Fernando 3-59) beat Sri Lanka 268 all out, 48.1 overs (Pavan Rathnayake 79, Janith Liyanage 60; Shaheen Shah Afridi 3-55) by 37 runs.∎
