Pakistan beats SriLanka by 33 runs

A 101-run partnership between Younus Khan and Shoaib Malik and some inspired bowling from Shahid Afridi proved to be the key to Pakistan’s first victory of the super eight stage, by 33 runs, at the ICC World Twenty20 in Jo’burg on Monday night as for the first time in the tournament, Sri Lanka did not look quite as composed as usual.

Having been sent in to bat after Sri Lanka won the toss, Pakistan did not have the greatest of starts, losing three wickets with 33 runs on the board by the end of the sixth over. But Khan and Malik set to work steadying the ship with some glorious batting. Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya was at the receiving end of much of this, having 64 runs blasted from his four overs with no wickets for consolation.

The devastating duo finally both fell to Lasith Malinga (both caught by TM Dilshan), Khan for 57 (off 36 balls) and Malik for 57 (off 45) with Pakistan eventually finishing their innings on 189-6.
Dilhara Fernando was by far the stand-out bowler for Sri Lanka, conceding just 17 runs from his four overs and taking the wickets of both Salman Butt and Mohammad Hafeez. Despite his heroics, however, 190 was always going to be a challenging target for victory.

And it was a nervous start for the Sri Lankans who had looked completely composed in this tournament until this point. But at 5-2 at the beginning of the second over they had cause for concern. Upul Tharanga was the first to go (caught by Umar Gul off Mohammad Asif without scoring) and Jayasuriya soon followed after being bowled by Sohail Tanvir for five.

The early wickets seemed to provide the fire for Pakistan who kept the pressure on. While captain Mahela Jayawardena and Chamara Silva looked like they would be the ones to save the day for the Sri Lankans, putting together a partnership of 50 off 31 balls (after Kumar Sangakkara went for 18 after a ball from Asif dribbled on to his stumps), the comeback wasn’t to last and the wickets kept tumbling. Afridi dismissed both Jayawardena and Silva, for 28 and 38 respectively and while Dilshan gallantly tried to hang on, scoring 38 off 28, he couldn’t keep up with the soaring required run-rate, as the Sri Lankans eventually needed 60 off the final two overs for victory.

After losing Dilshan to Hafeez (caught by Khan), that was reduced to 39 off the final over, but in the absence of a Herschelle Gibbs-esque performance and the help of a few no-balls, that was never going to happen and the Sri Lankans lost by 33 runs.