Teams:

Pakistan 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Nasir Jamshed, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Umar Akmal, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Hammad Azam, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Aizaz Cheema


Sri Lanka1 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Upul Tharanga, 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Seekkuge Prasanna, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Lasith Malinga



Sri Lankan Innings

A must win game for Sri Lanka after their loss to India, Mahela won the toss and decided to bat.

As always, Dilshan and he, came out swinging with Cheema bearing the brunt of their onslaught. At 33-0, things were looking ominous, but then Pakistan struck their first blow as Jayawardene was dismissed thanks to a sharp catch by Hafeez at cover. 2 overs later, Cheema took his 2nd wicket as Dilshan miscued a pull shot to a tumbling Ajmal at mid-wicket.

Shortly after, Umar Gul was in on the action as he induced an edge from Dinesh Chandimal. Younis Khan, standing at a wide first slip position, took a blinder to his left and Sri Lanka were reduced to 47-3. Captain Misbah then turned to his slower bowlers, Mohammad Hafeez and Hammad Azam. The Sri Lankan batsmen were looking to knock the ball around for a few overs, but their plan was thwarted when Umar Akmal latched on to a low catch at point off Hammad, giving the bowler his 2nd ODI wicket.

At 65-4, Sri Lanka were in serious trouble and in need of a partnership. Sangakkara and the new batsman, Tharanga began to rebuild. Sangakarra in particular showed his class, knocking the ball around expertly for singles and twos, and cashing in on any loose deliveries. Both batsmen passed 50, but as is often the case, the batting powerplay played into the hands of the fielding side. Saeed Ajmal produced a gorgeous doosra from round the wicket to the left-handed Tharanga, and the ball snuck between bat and pad to crash into the stumps. In his next over, Ajmal was at it again, dismissing the dangerous Maharoof as the batsman top-edged a sweep to square leg. At 165-6 in the 39th over, Pakistan were very much on top.

At Brisbane 11 days ago, Nuwan Kulasekara played a phenonemal innings down the order to bring Sri Lanka right back into the game. An Umar Gul bouncer ensured that there would be no repeat, as a thin edge was snaffled by Sarfraz behind the stumps, giving Gul his 150th ODI wicket.

The next wicket though broke Sri Lanka's back. The pressure was on Sangakarra to score fast with partners running out and he took to Saeed Ajmal with a big six over midwicket. However Misbah called Cheema back into the attack and he provided the breakthrough as Sangakarra attacked and missed the ball only to watch his wickets in a mess.

Next to depart was Malinga, who went for an awfully poor slog but got nowhere near the ball as Cheema picked up his fourth wicket. The final wicket went to Ajmal who snarled another 4fer on a day where once again he bamboozled the opposition with his bowling variations. With a target of just 189, Pakistan would have been confident of victory and a spot in the final.

Fall of Wickets

1-33 (Jayawardene, 5.1 ov),
2-43 (Dilshan, 7.1 ov),
3-47 (Chandimal, 8.4 ov),
4-65 (Thirimanne, 14.3 ov)
5-161 (Tharanga, 35.3 ov)
6-165 (Maharoof, 37.1 ov)
7-172 (Kulasekara, 40.3 ov)
8-182 (Sangakarra, 42.1 ov)
9-187 (Malinga, 44.4 ov)
10-188 (Lakmal, 45.4 ov)

Pakistan Innings

The Pakistani openers, Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed, got off to a very sedate start, clearly trying to play out the new ball and avoid the loss of early wickets. The first boundary came in the fourth over, at which point Jamshed decided to up the run rate and charged down the pitch, resulting in a couple of useful boundaries. His aggression got the better of him though, as he fell attemping an audacious pull shot to a ball wide of off stump.

2 maiden overs followed, and the pressure seemed to tell on the batsmen. A loose drive from Hafeez carried to backward point, before Younis Khan fell to a poor shot off the bowling of Lakmal. At 33-3, Pakistan were behind the eight ball and it was left to the captain and Umar Akmal to rebuild the innings.

After a few overs of consolidation, Umar Akmal launched a thrilling counter-attack against a stunned Lasith Malinga. Akmal struck two imperious cover drives, before flicking through square leg to take 12 off the over. The pair continued to pick up the ones and twos to bring up the 50 partnership after Misbah had despatched Prasanna for a huge six over long on. 13 were taken from Prasanna's next over as Umar Akmal once again demonstrated his vast array of talent. A boundary was followed by a maximum to put Pakistan back in the ascendancy.

Misbah and Umar continued confidently, running well between the wickets and punishing the loose deliveries. Both batsmen reached their half centuries during an eventful 34th over, in which Thirimanne dropped a simple catch at deep square leg to give Akmal a let-off. As Pakistan approached the winning post, Akmal attacked once again, cutting Malinga before smashing Lakmal for consecutive boundaries. After a couple of innovative shots from both batsmen, Akmal fell trying to seal the victory, but Pakistan sailed home with 6 wickets and 10 overs to spare.


Fall of Wickets

1-29 (Jamshed, 8.4 ov)
2-31 (Hafeez, 11.2 ov)
3-33 (Younis, 12.5 ov)
4-185 (Akmal 38.6 ov)

Summary

After some anxious moments, it turned out to be a comfortable victory for Pakistan thanks to a fabulous match winning partnership from the captain Misbah Ul-Haq, and the talented Umar Akmal. There are still concerns about the top order, and Younis Khan is certainly under pressure to start performing, but new coach Dav Whatmore will be happy to have won his first two games in charge. Credit also goes to the bowlers, with Ajmal reliable and effective as ever, and Aizaz Cheema also picked up some confidence-boosting wickets.

Pakistan now have one foot firmly in the Asia Cup Final, and barring a couple of miraculous upsets from Bangladesh, are likely to play India twice in the space of four days. What a mouth-watering prospect!