Pakistan registered a dramatic win over Sri Lanka by 3 wickets on Monday at Cardiff to book a semi-final berth in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Batting first, Sri Lanka were bowled out for a mere 236 runs. No one apart from Niroshan Dickwella (73) crossed the score of 50.
Junaid Khan was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers with figures of 10-3-40-3. Hasan Ali also accounted for three wickets, giving away just 43 runs, whereas Mohammad Amir returned figures of 2/53. Fahim Ashraf also chipped in with a couple of wickets.
Pakistan, on the other hand, started the chase well with their openers putting on a stand of 74. However, things turned for the worse as they were reduced to 162/7 by the Sri Lankan bowlers. But, skipper Sarfraz Ahmed ensured with his innings of 61* that Pakistan found a place in the semi-finals.
Extra Cover: ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 5 things that went wrong for Sri Lanka
It was Amir’s contribution with the bat as well, an innings of 28*(43), that enabled Sarfraz to drive Pakistan home. Pakistan thus won the match by three wickets with 31 balls to spare.
Let us now have a look at the five talking points from the match.
#1 Dickwella’s steady knock
Niroshan Dickwella has played quite a few noticeable innings of late for Sri Lanka. And his knock of 73 (86) in Monday’s do-or-die clash against Pakistan was another one of those. Opening the innings, he maintained a steady run-rate by constantly rotating the strike.
The fact that he struck only four boundaries in his innings of 73 runs shows how much importance he placed in rotating the strike. Although he lost his opening partner Danushka Gunathilaka quite early after a brief stand of 26, he combined well with Kusal Mendis to stitch a 56 run partnership for the second wicket.
However, two quick wickets followed in the form of Kusal Mendis (27) and Dinesh Chandimal (0) and Sri Lanka were reduced to 83/3. However, Dickwella stitched another crucial partnership of 78 runs for the fourth wicket along with Angelo Mathews (39) to take Sri Lanka’s score on to 161/3.
#2 Four Lankan wickets fall for six runs
It looked like smooth sailing for Sri Lanka with Dickwella and Mathews at the crease. However, the duo of Junaid Khan and Mohammad Amir produced another classic spell of reverse swing to reduce Sri Lanka to 167/7 from a comfortable 161/3.
Amir claimed the all-important wickets of Dickwella (73) and Mathews (39). Junaid, on the other hand, accounted for the wickets of Dhananjaya de Silva (1) and Thisara Perera (1). Both bowlers turned out to be unplayable in that period. The result was four Sri Lankan wickets falling for a mere six runs in the space of 22 balls. Both Amir and Junaid returned with impressive bowling figures of 2/53 and 3/40 respectively in their complete quota of 10 overs.
It is worth mentioning that that spell from Junaid also included three maiden overs.
#3 Fakhar Zaman’s onslaught at the start
There is no doubt that Fakhar Zaman has been the most interesting addition to the Pakistani limited overs setup of late. He proved that once again today as he blasted a fifty off just 30 balls whilst opening the innings alongside Azhar Ali. Zaman was aggressive right from the start and had a go at all the Lankan bowlers.
His innings was studded with eight fours and one huge six. Moreover, he also ensured that the run-rate didn’t creep up whilst his partner Azhar Ali took time to settle. Zaman compensated for the deliveries consumed by Ali with his big hitting. He was ultimately dismissed by Nuwan Pradeep while attempting another big shot.
#4 The great Pakistani collapse
The word collapse has become synonymous with Pakistan. On Monday, in what was another dismal display, they collapsed from 92/1 to 162/7, losing six wickets for just 70 runs. After Fakhar Zaman departed, there was none who could up the ante. Babar Azam (10), Mohammad Hafeez (1), Shoaib Malik (11), Imad Wasim (4) and Fahim Ashraf (15) all fell cheaply and hence accounted for the collapse.
Azhar Ali also departed for 34 runs after consuming 50 deliveries. Nuwan Pradeep picked up two of those six wickets while Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera contributed to the collapse as well.
#5 Skipper Sarfraz Ahmed rides his luck to take Pakistan home
Sarfraz Ahmed rode his luck to drive Pakistan home with an unbeaten 61. However, it should be remembered that Sarfraz was given two lives by the Lankan fielders without which the result could have been different.
He was dropped once on 38 and another time on 41 as Sri Lanka failed to grasp on to crucial catches. While the second one was a bit tough, the first one was an absolute sitter that Perera dropped off Malinga’s bowling. Malinga was later seen fuming as he knew that dropping that catch meant dropping the match.
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