PAK v SL, 1st ODI Review: Clinical Pakistan run through the Islanders with ease

After a mediocre performance in the Test series, Pakistan managed to pull things back brilliantly in the ODIs with a thumping victory on Friday. Batting first, Ahmed Shehzad struggled badly against the new ball and was dismissed for a horrendous 12-ball duck. In came their young sensation, Babar Azam, who took the impetus upon himself to ensure his side posts a decent total. He joined hands with the aggressive Fakhar Zaman and the duo added a valuable partnership for the second wicket.

Zaman managed to pile up runs at a brisk pace, but he got out 7 short of a well-deserved half-century. Mohammad Hafeez and Azam posted another decent stand and this helped their side get past the 100 mark. Though their batsmen found it difficult, they stuck in brilliantly in pursuit of a big total. 

Hafeez scored a valuable 32 off 38 balls and after Vandersay picked up his wicket, the Lankans had nothing to smile about in the next couple of hours. Azam had just reached his fifty and he was joined by their stalwart Shoaib Malik. The 35-year-old played a gem of a knock in difficult circumstances to help his side amass a more than respectable total.

Malik kept spanking boundaries at regular intervals and Azam played the second fiddle beautifully. I no time, he got to his half-century and the Dubai crowd witnessed some power-packed entertainment. He scored a brilliant 81 off 61 balls before getting dismissed by Lakmal.

This duo added 139 for the 4th wicket and with few more deliveries left, Azam completed his sixth ODI century. some lusty blows from Hasan Ali and Imad Wasim came in handy as they posted an above par 292 for the loss of six wickets. The Lankan bowlers gave away too many runs in the middle overs and that proved to be costly.

Rumman Raees: The star of the innings

Not many gave Sri Lanka a chance to go all the way in this game and eventually, that’s what happened. The Pakistani bowlers were marvellous right from the outset and clearly, the tentative batters failed to cope with the pressure. Rumman Raees embarked the wicket-taking ceremony sending Niroshan Dickwella back way too soon.

Dinesh Chandimal too followed the opener as he was dismissed in a humiliating way by Rumman Raees. Skipper Upul Tharanga and another senior in the house, Lahiru Thirimanne, held things up for a bit. But their consolidation process ate up a lot of overs and this cost them heavily.

After Tharanga got dismissed in Mohammed Hafeez’s bowling, they lost two more wickets in quick succession. Kusal Mendis and Milinda Siriwardana were dismissed off successive balls from Hasan Ali and the visitors were down to 67/5. Thirimanne and Thisara Perera added another 49 runs for the sixth wicket, but what they did was not good enough to win them the game.

In an attempt to up the ante, Perera and Thirimanne walked back in a span fewer than 20 deliveries and they were strangling in quite a predicament. Completely out of the blue, Akila Dananjaya joined Vandersay and the duo added a brilliant partnership for the seventh wicket. This came in as a huge surprise for the Pakistani fans as they batted almost for 15 overs.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka fell 83 runs short of their target as they could manage only just above 200 in their innings. This comes as a huge morale booster for the Pakistanis and definitely, a spectacular series is up for grabs for the fans.

Brief Scores:

Pakistan: 292/6 in 50 overs (Babar Azam 101, Shoaib Malik 81; Suranga Lakmal 2/47)

Sri Lanka: 209/8 in 50 overs (Lahiru Thirimanne 53, Akila Dananjaya 50; Hasan Ali 3/36, Rumman Raees 3/49)