A brilliant bowling display from Pakistan and a laborious chase saw the hosts beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to complete a 3-0 sweep over the visitors in the third and final one-day international at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Pacers Haris Rauf and Mohammad Wasim Junior (3-47) and left-arm wrist spinner Faisal Akram (2-42) starred in the ball before contrasting half-centuries from Fakhar Zaman (55 off 45) and Mohammad Rizwan (61 off 92) guided Pakistan towards the target of 212 runs with 32 balls remaining.
It was Pakistan’s second successive ODI series win after their 2-1 win over South Africa earlier this month, and attention now turns to the T20I tri-series featuring the hosts along with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
After Pakistan won the toss and opted to play, Haris, Wasim and Faisal struck at regular intervals throughout the innings, preventing Sri Lanka from gaining momentum at any point.
A flurry of clean hitting on a batting-friendly pitch from Sri Lanka openers Patthum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara gave the visitors a good start before the in-form Haris forced Nissanka to play one into his stumps. However, Sri Lanka reached 57-1 at the end of the first 10 overs.
Kusal Mendis, the first to fall, carried the momentum, bowling two Haris full deliveries for boundaries in the 11th over. But Sri Lanka suffered another setback when Mishara pushed a Wasim outswinger to be caught behind in the next over.
The dismissal slowed the pace of the run, with Kusal and Sadeera Samarawickrama taking Sri Lanka to 99-2 in the 20th over, which featured a successful DRS review that saved Samarawickrama after an lbw decision by spinner Faisal.
With the boundary drought extending (47 balls to be precise), the pressure increased on the batsmen, culminating in another breakthrough for Pakistan and another for Wasim, who smashed one to castle Kusal through the gate as the Islanders fell to 117-3 at the halfway mark.
Faisal, who had kept things tight in his five overs, returned to remove Kamindu Mendis off his own bowling on a soft dismissal, pushing Sri Lanka into deeper trouble. Janith Liyanage was next, cutting off Faheem Ashraf’s medium pace on his stumps.
Faisal then played a superb delivery in the 36th over, swinging one back sharply towards right-handed Samarawickrama to bowl it for 48.
Maheesh Theekshana fell soon after to a scorching yorker from Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, with the DRS upholding the lbw decision. Another punctual yorker saw Wasim chip Jefferey Vandersay’s middle stump.
After Pavan Rathnayake threatened a late comeback by bowling Haris in for six minutes, teammate Pramod Madushan succumbed to a fierce rebound and the ball flew out of his gloves into the hands of goalkeeper Haseebullah Khan.
Rathnayake was the last to go down, courtesy of a strong delivery from substitute Saim Ayub that found him close to his area.
Pakistan’s start with the bat proved difficult as opener Haseebullah died while trying to clear Maheesh Theekshana’s frame but ended up holing out to Eshan Malinga midway through the fourth over. Fakhar responded to the first wicket with a firm whip through mid-wicket off Pramod Madushan for his second boundary, before Babar Azam hit Theekshana for two crisp drives through the off side in the next over.
Fakhar lifted Theekshana over his head for another four as Pakistan reached 46-1 at the end of 10 overs. Fakhar and Babar raised their fifty stand in the 12th over, the latter caressing Madushan for a cover boundary before the former punished a wide delivery from medium pacer Dunith Liyanage for four.
Fakhar scored his 19th ODI half-century by hitting Jeffery Vandersay on the right side in the 14th over. But he departed soon after, for 55 off 45, and found Kamindu Mendis diving to Vandersay’s deep mid-on.
Just as Pakistan crossed 100 in the 20th over, Vandersay played a brilliant strike to deceive Babar (34 off 52) and break his stumps. The leg-spinner struck again in the 25th over, trapping Salman Ali Agha lbw, the third umpire overturning the on-field decision as Sri Lanka sensed an opening at mid-wicket.
Rizwan, at the other end, responded with exquisite cover from Malinga in the next over. But as the slow pace of the pitch increasingly came into play, Rizwan and incoming Hussain Talat opted for caution, relying on running hard rather than playing for strokes.
The next boundary came after more than 12 overs when Rizwan easily placed a Malinga full toss behind square. The former Pakistan captain scored his second consecutive fifty off 84 balls in the 42nd over.
He fell for 55 in the 44th over, but Pakistan only needed nine more runs by then. Four came from a direct shot by Rizwan against Madushan before Hussain (42 off 57) hit another boundary to seal the match.
