Pakistan won by 5 wickets after restricting Sri Lanka to 133-8 to register their first win in the Super Four stage of the men’s Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Pakistan were playing their first match of the tournament in Abu Dhabi, where the scores are generally higher than in Dubai.
Hussain Talat was adjudicated player-of-the-match for 32 runs of 30 deliveries as he held the Pakistani innings together with Mohammad Nawaz in an unbeaten 58-run partnership.
The Men in Green were struggling at 82-5 at one stage after spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga struck in the middle overs, and the runs dried up after a brisk start.
However, Nawaz and Hussain made sure that Pakistan cruised to victory in style with 12 balls to spare — with Nawaz hitting three sixes in the 18th over to complete the chase.
In the first innings, Shaheen Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for the Green Shirts as he got yet another first-over wicket and ended with figures of 3-28.
Speaking after the match, Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha said, “I cannot say it was a perfect game. We lost four wickets in three overs, but apart from that, it could be a perfect game, but we need to stop doing that.”
