The
format of this edition of the Asia Cup meant that there were going
to be only 5 games that could be competitive, due respect to
Bangladesh, U.A.E and Hong Kong. And today was the day for the
second of the five competitive matches to be played at the Premadasa,
Colombo. After beating India by 12 runs, Sri Lanka have proved
themselves to be a tough opposition. Pakistan on the other hand beat
Bangladesh and Hong Kong convincingly, but today was the real test
for the Pakistan side and its new coach – Bob Woolmer.
The
Flip of the coin :
Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to
bat first on a pitch which was reported to be flat and hard, and
looked like a Batsman's paradise. The Rawalpindi Express -
Shoaib
Akhtar was back for Imran Farhat, where as Saman Jayantha who was
impressive against India, made way for the Master Blaster -
Sanath
Jayasuriya.
Pakistan
Batting :
The Pakistanis were off to a poor start, as
they lost the "out of form" opener Imran Nazir in the
sixth over of the Match to Nuwan Zoysa. Both
Vaas and Zoysa bowled
an immaculate line and length and Pakistan were tottering at a
hapless 25/2 when Zoysa pitched up the delivery to the in-form
Shoaib Malik
as he played it into the safe hands of Dilshan. Then,
came in the Captain
Inzamam and he along with
Hameed tried to steady
the ship. Just when it felt as if a new partnership had begun to
blossom, Muralitharan came into the attack and dismissed Inzamam.
Wickets, then fell at regular intervals and Pakistan were brought
down to 52/5 in 17 overs.
Abdul Razzaq then joined the opener
Yasir Hameed and they went on
till the score of 72, when Hameed got run out to a suicidal run.
Zoysa then dismissed Moin Khan, thanks to the wicket-keeper
Sangakkara who dived to his right to clinch a marvelous catch,
Pakistan tottering at 88/7. Abdul Razzaq tried to bail his team out
of trouble, as he went on till the end. But, due to lack of support
from the tail-enders and some lackluster batting from the top order,
Pakistan were bowled out for a paltry 122 in just 39.5 Overs. Abdul
Razzaq scored the highest for Pakistan with 42 runs to his name.
Zoysa took 3 wickets, where as the promising youngster
Farveez
Maharoof took 2 wickets.
The
Sri Lankan Chase :
With a Target of 122 to
chase in 50 Overs, the odds were highly stacked towards Sri Lanka to
win the Match. Sanath Jayasuriya and Avishka Gunawardene got off to
a quiet start. Six overs were to be played before the Dinner Break,
and the Openers had decided to play them out cautiously. Shoaib
Akhtar and Mohammad Sami bowled with great pace, but they weren't
good enough to make inroads, which the Pakistanis badly wanted.
Jayasuriya and Gunawardene went on to add 51 runs for the 1st
wicket, when Mohammad Sami forced Jayasuriya to fiddle an away
swinger and the rest was taken care by Younis Khan who dived to his
wrong side to take the catch inches off the ground.
Captain
Marvan Atapattu came into the crease at the fall of Jayasuriya, with
the score at 51/1. Atapattu went on to make 19, before edging a good
length delivery to Shoaib Malik at point, with the score on 84/2.
After adding 4 runs to the Sri Lankan total, Gunawardene departed as
Imran Nazir clinched a wonderful catch out of thin air by diving low
to his right of Abdul Razzaq’s bowling. Jayawardene then joined
Sangakkara, with the score at 88/3. Both of them played carefully,
punished the poor balls and raced along nicely to achieve the target
in exactly 32 Overs. It was a comprehensive victory for Sri Lanka
with the team performing well in all departments compared to the
rusty Pakistani team.
Sri Lankans took the bonus point from this Match and now lead the
Phase - 2 points table along with India, who registered a
comfortable win against Bangladesh earlier in the day.
