Anwar Ali and Shahid Afridi smash Pakistan to T20 triumph
Saturday 1 August 2015 19:20, UK
Anwar Ali and Shahid Afridi played starring roles as Pakistan pulled off a stunning one-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Colombo to wrap up the T20 series 2-0.
The win also completed a clean sweep of series victories by the visitors following successes in both the Test and ODI arenas during their six-week tour.
In front of a packed crowd of 35,000 at the Premadasa Stadium, the tourists recovered from 40-5 in the eighth over to overcome Sri Lanka’s total of 172-7 with four balls to spare.
Man-of-the-match Ali, coming in at No 9, cracked a brilliant 46 from just 17 deliveries, hitting four sixes and three fours in his quickfire innings.
Earlier, veteran all-rounder Afridi started the fightback with a trademark 45 from 22, after Pakistan’s top five batsmen could muster just 34 runs between them.
Afridi, 35, who has represented his country more than 500 times in all formats of the game, smashed four sixes before being bowled by debutant Shehan Jayasuriya.
The winning runs, however, came from the bat of Imad Wasim who struck an explosive 24 off 14.
Imad clinched the victory off the second ball of the final over, blasting a six back over the head of 20-year-old bowler Binura Fernando.
Earlier in the day, Jayasuriya and Chamara Kapugedera combined to help the hosts set a competitive total after, at one stage, struggling on 64-4 in the 10th over.
Rookie Jayasuriya, a 23-year-old left-hander, smashed three fours and two sixes in his 32-ball 40, while Kapugedera smacked an unbeaten 48 off 25 deliveries that contained four sixes.
Kapugedera teamed up with Milinda Siriwardana to put on 55 in 34 balls for the sixth wicket as Sri Lanka managed to plunder 59 runs from the final five overs.
But it was not to be for the hosts, for whom skipper Lasith Malinga won the toss and chose to bat.
Malinga said afterwards: "I didn't bowl well and we had to get Afridi out early. But I'm happy for the young players and Sri Lanka has a good future."
His opposite number Afridi added: "170 was a chaseable total. We panicked early on but we had awesome innings from Imad Wasim and Anwar Ali."
