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New Delhi: A brilliant bowling performance, followed by Sahibzada Farhan's stunning knock, helped Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in the ongoing T20I tri-series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Following a poor batting display against Zimbabwe, the Sri Lankan batters delivered another disappointing performance, finishing at 128/7. Farhan then scored an unbeaten 80 runs to take his side home.
Sri Lanka opted to bat first on a used pitch and made three changes to their playing XI. The openers got off to a good start as Pathum Nissanka smashed the first ball of the match for a boundary, and Kamil Mishara followed it up with a maximum in the next over. He looked to put pressure on the hosts and hit another maximum and a boundary before mistiming a shot against Faheem Ashraf to depart for 22 runs.
Kusal Mendis got run out in the final over of the power play, and after that, Pakistan made a slow comeback with regular wickets. Abrar Ahmed removed Nissanka for 17 runs off 23 balls, and Mohammad Nawaz also struck twice by dismissing Kusal Perera (25) and skipper Dasun Shanaka (0) off consecutive deliveries.
From 78/5, Sri Lanka couldn't set up a competitive target for the hosts. Janith Liyanage played a valiant knock, scoring an unbeaten 41 runs off 38 balls with the help of three boundaries and one maximum, and helped Sri Lanka to post 128/7 in 20 overs.
Pakistan got off to a stunning start as Saim Ayub smashed Eshan Malinga for three consecutive boundaries in the second over. While Ayub slowed down, Farhan hit a maximum against Dushmantha Chameera as the hosts raced to 42/0 after just four overs. Shanaka brought himself into the attack and removed Ayub for 20 runs, but it didn't bother Farhan, who continued to dominate against the Lankan bowlers.
After a short quiet period, Farhan smashed Vijayakanth Viyaskanth for a maximum and a boundary. He continued to attack the bowlers, hitting two more maximums off Wanindu Hasaranga. Even though Chameera took a couple of late wickets in a single over, it didn't change Farhan's approach as Pakistan chased down the target in 15.3 overs.
