Spinner Mohammad Nawaz weaved his magic, ripping through Sri Lanka’s middle order, as Pakistan restricted their opponents to 128-7 in their Twenty20 tri-nation series clash at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Nawaz returned figures of 3-16 in his four overs as Pakistan look to make it two wins out of two, having beaten Zimbabwe by five wickets in the series opener.
Sri Lanka were smarting from a humbling loss to Zimbabwe on Thursday and after Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bat, only Janith Liyanage showed some resistance with 41 not out in the end.
Liyanage’s counterattacking innings came after openers Kamil Mishara and Pathum Nissanka had tore into Pakistan’s bowling with the latter cutting away Salman Mirza for four on the first ball of their innings.
Mishara then pulled Mohammad Waseem Jr, in for the injured Shaheen Shah Afridi, for six and then smashed Salman for a four and a six off consecutive deliveries in the third over.
Mishara then slashed at Faheem Ashraf and got a top-edge that ran for four but his enterprising 22 off 12 ended on the next ball when he was undone by the change of pace and found Fakhar Zaman at mid-off.
One-drop Kusal Mendis, didn’t last long as he was run out in an attempt to scamper a quick two and Sri Lanka ended the powerplay at 44-2 after the incoming Kusal Perera pulled Faheem away past mid-on for four.
Spinner Abrar bowled an expensive first over, giving away 11 — four of them wides, with Perera raising Sri Lanka’s 50 with his second four.
But Abrar hit back in his second over, having Nissanka caught at long-off for a sluggish 23-ball 17 and Sri Lanka trudged to 65-3 by the midway point of their innings.
Perera, who made 25 off 19, welcomed Saim Ayub into the attack with a six over deep square leg but Nawaz’s two wickets in two balls left Sri Lanka reeling.
First Perera was cleaned up with a ball that was tossed outside off but turned enough to find a way between bat and pad and hit the off-stump before Shanaka was sent packing in similar fashion, with that delivery a bit quicker than the previous one.
From 78-3, Sri Lanka slipped to 86-6 when Nawaz had Kamindu Mendis caught thanks to a superb display of athleticism by Waseem in the deep.
A first boundary in six overs came when Liyanage lifted Abrar straight back over his head for six on the first ball of the 17th and as Sri Lanka crossed 100, Wanindu Hasaranga got a four over extra cover two balls later.
An upper-cut for off Waseem got Liyanage his first four and he followed it up with another off Salman in the penultimate over before Hasaranga (11) holed out in the deep.
Liyanage, though, couldn’t give Sri Lanka the lift they were looking for in the last over with just seven coming off it.
Teams:
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Salman Mirza, Abrar Ahmed.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Perera, Dasun Shanaka (captain), Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Eshan Malinga.
