Pakistan continued their recent dominance over Sri Lanka in ODIs, cruising to a comfortable victory with plenty of time to spare. The game was set up by the bowlers, with Gul and Sami knocking the stuffing out of the Sri Lankan top order with 3 wickets apiece.

 by Shayan Siddiqui (June 7th 2012)

Teams:

Sri Lanka
M Dilshan, WU Tharanga, DPMD Jayawardene*, LD Chandimal, KC Sangakkara†, HDRL Thirimanne, AD Mathews, NLTC Perera, HMRKB Herath, KMDN Kulasekara, SL Malinga

Pakistan
Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Sami


Sri Lanka innings 

Different format, different captains, different playing XI. With the 2 T20s out of the way, the likes of Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, and Sarfraz Ahmed returned to the side, and Misbah Ul-Haq resumed his captaincy duties. Mohammad Sami and Sohail Tanvir made comebacks to the ODI team, and Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga were back for Sri Lanka. The toss was won by the home side, who elected to bat first.

Sri Lanka's dangerous opening duo of Jayawardene and Dilshan got off to a sedate start thanks to some tight bowling from Gul and Tanvir. The first chance came in the 3rd over as Dilshan played a loose shot, but Hafeez was unable to cling on to the chance above his head. Dilshan continued to go for his shots, without much success, as another false shot fell agonisingly close to a fielder. His luck finally ran out in the fifth over, as another cross batted swipe was skied to Saeed Ajmal at mid-on. A good start for Pakistan, 8/1 after 5 overs.

Tanvir should have had his first wicket at the start of the next over, a cracking delivery taking Jayawardene's outside edge, but the batsman was recalled to the crease after hte umpired deemed the bowler to have overstepped. It looked like a tough call, as further replays suggested Tanvir's foot may have landed behind the line before sliding forward. Umar Gul, however, ensure that Pakistan's disappointment didn't last long. A fantstic off-cutter snuck past the captain's outside edge and thudded into his pad plumb in front.

Gul was now finding some extravagant swing, twice sending down 5 wides as he struggled to control the movement. Aggressive shots were not the way to go against him, as Chandimal found out as he looked to punch the moving ball off the back foot. The ball took the inside edge and cannoned into the stumps, leaving Sri Lanka in disarray at 23/3. Gul had another wicket next ball when the ball took Tharanga's inside edge on its way to the keeper but, incredibly, it wasn't given by the umpire. Regardless, 24/3 from the first 10 overs was a pleasing position for Pakistan.

Sri Lanka released the pressure somewhat in the 12th over, cashing in on some wayward bowling from Tanvir and taking 10 runs, including the first boundary of the innings. Mohammad Sami then came into the attack, looking to carry on from where he left off in the T20s, and he struck with his fourth delivery. Sangakarra was unale to get his bat down to fast, full inswinger, and a marginal lbw decision went in favour of the bowler, probably deserved after Pakistan's earlier misfortunes. Sami struck again in the next over, the dangerous Mathews edging an away swinger to Misbah in the slips. Sri Lanka were disintegrating at 41/5 and Sami was on fire, but thankfully for the home side, some rain was on hand to cool the bowler down, so a short delay resulted.

The rain, however, failed to extinguish Sri Lanka's recklessness, and they were reduced to 56/6 when Tharanga charged out to Hafeez and completely missed a straight ball, giving the bowler yet another wicket against left handers. After a couple more rain breaks, Hafeez struck again, following up a sharp off break with his trademark straighter one, and Perera was given out despite a big inside edge. Sri Lanka were 107/7 when the rain came yet again, and this time suck around for over an hour. When the players finally returned, the game had been reduced to 42 overs per side, so Sri Lanka had just 5 more overs to bat.

Those final 5 overs included two boundaries, two dropped catches, more extras, and another wicket for Sami. Sri Lanka finished on 135/8 off 42 overs, the 8th wicket partnership of 50 between Kulasekara and Thirimanne giving them something to bowl at. An excellent bowling performance from Pakistan, especially Gul and Sami, who looks to be bowling as well as he ever has. They would be disappointed to have given away 31 extras (2nd top scorer), but the bowlers shouldn't be blamed much for showing some aggressive intent.

Fall of wickets 

1-8 (Dilshan, 4.1 ov)
2-12 (Jayawardene, 6.1 ov)
3-23 (Chandimal, 8.4 ov)
4-40 (Sangakarra, 12.4 ov)
5-41 (Mathews, 14.3 ov)
6-56 (Tharanga, 19.2 ov)
7-81 (Perera, 27.3 ov)
8-131 (Kulasekara, 41.4 ov)


Pakistan Innings

Duckworth-Lewis reduced Pakistan's target by one run, to 135, and Hafeez and Azhar Ali strode out to face Malinga and Kulasekara, two bowlers that could make life very difficult for the batsmen. Hafeez raced out of the blocks though, first driving Malinga through the covers, before edging down to third man. Malinga struck with his seventh ball, as Azhar uncharacteristically pushed away from his body, and Sangakarra wasn't going to drop the thin edge. The two bowlers continued to bowl tight lines, and Younis Khan eventually fell to a sharp inswinger which took the top of off. At 27/2, Sri Lanka were right back in it.

Misbah and Hafeez were forced to consolidate, partly because of some excellent bowling, and they slowly but surely brought the runs required down to under 100 with 30 overs to go. Despite the bowling, a required rate of around 3 was always going to remain under control, particularly when helped by the odd boundary and some extras. Hafeez finally broke the shackles as he charged down to Herath and launched him over long off, before Misbah followed it with a sweetly struck four down the ground. Another boundary was struck a few balls later and Pakistan were well on their way to victory.

Hafeez was stumped for 32 with the score on 78 to give Sri Lanka some hope, but Umar Akmal batted patiently with the obdurate Misbah to keep Pakistan ticking along. As the winning post neared, the two batsmen started to free their arms, showing flamboyance and taking advantage of some wayward, lacklustre bowling. With just 2 runs required for victory, Misbah was run out after a mix-up, but the target was reached with more than 7 overs remaining, Umar Akmal finishing unbeaten on 36, and Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the series.

Fall of wickets 

1-11 (Azhar, 2.1 ov)
2-27 (Younis, 7.1 ov)
3-78 (Hafeez, 19.5 ov)
4-133 (Misbah, 33.2 ov)

Summary

Pakistan continued their recent dominance over Sri Lanka in ODIs, cruising to a comfortable victory with plenty of time to spare. The game was set up by the bowlers, with Gul and Sami knocking the stuffing out of the Sri Lankan top order with 3 wickets apiece. Sami has impressed all since his return to the side, and if Gul can continue this form, Pakistan could have a very dangerous pace bowling duo.

A target of 135 was never going to be enough, even with the reduced number of overs, and Hafeez, Misbah and Umar Akmal played sensibly to take them over the winning post without too many alarms. Misbah showed why he is so valuable to the ODI side, with a typically stubborn knock which was exactly what was needed in the situation, and Umar Akmal demonstrated that he is capable of restraining himself if required. Azhar Ali will be disappointed he didn't cash in on a good opportunity opening the batting, but he should certainly get a couple more games as he has the technique to prosper in that position. However, with Imran Farhat in the squad, and Nasir Jamshed currently sidelined due to injury, Azhar doesn't have too much time to make an impact.

There will be some question marks over the form of Younis Khan, who has recently struggled in the shorter format of the game. Another failure today after Asad Shafiq was left out will only add to the pressure on him, and calls for his retirement from ODIs are getting louder. With Misbah a certainty in the XI as captain, is there room in the middle order for a batsman like Younis, particularly if it is forcing a youngster like Shafiq to sit on the bench?

Overall though, plenty of positives for Pakistan, who will look to make it 2-0 in the series when the teams meet again at the same venue on Saturday.