Sri Lanka beats Pakistan to take T20 Canada Cup
Thu, October 16 2008
First Mendis took the important wickets of Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Aklam at crucial moments to restrict Pakistan to 132 for seven, getting him the Man of the Match award.
Later, Jayasuriya got his team off to a brilliant start to reach the 133-run target, with five wickets and an over to spare.
Thousands of Pakistani supporters cheered as Butt dispatched the first delivery from Farveez Mahroof for four after Mahela Jayawardene chose to field after winning the toss. However, a hush fell over the fans when Dilhara Fernando bowled Shoaib Khan Jr. from the other end for no score.
The crowd cheered again as Shahid Afridi walked in. The Pakistani star started off cautiously. But he failed once again, caught by Jehan Mubarak on 14 while going for a bouncer by Thilan Thushara in the sixth over.
The next batsman, Younis Khan, also got out without scoring as he was run out by Weeraratne in the seventh over.
As captain Shoaib Malik and Butt played some long shots to post 64 for three at the half-way stage, the Sri Lankan skipper rotated his bowlers cleverly to check the dangerous Pakistani batsmen.
He succeeded in removing Malik in the 13th over when he was caught on long on by Jehan Mubarak off Mendis for 19, reducing Pakistan to 81 for four. Mendis struck again when Butt tried to lift him over long on to be caught by Thushara for 44.
The Sri Lankans resumed the chase, with Jayasuriya going after Shoaib Akhtar and Sohail Tanvir from the start.
The southpaw was particularly severe on the Rawalpindi Express player, hitting him for two successive sixes over square leg his second over.
With Mahela Udawatte also responding with fours and a six against Umar Gul, the two posted 50 on the scoreboard in the fifth over. This forced the Pakistani skipper to introduce himself and Afridi into the attack. And the move paid off in the seventh when Udawatte went for a big one and was caught at long off by Shoaib Akhtar for 25.
Jayasuriya and his captain played the next two overs carefully and paid for their caution when Malik removed both of them.
But Shoaib Malik’s decision to bring back Shoaib Akhtar backfired as the speedster conceded 18 runs in the crucial 15th over.
By Gurmukh Singh
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