Veteran spinner Rangana Herath grabbed 3-25 to lift hosts Sri Lanka into the World Twenty20 final with a 16-run victory over Pakistan in Colombo on Thursday. Sri Lanka, restricted to 139-4 after electing to bat, hit back to keep Pakistan down to 123-7 in a thrilling semi-final before 35,000 screaming fans at the Premadasa stadium. Herath, the 34-year-old left-arm spinner playing only his sixth T20 international, was supported by two wickets each from seamer Angelo Mathews and unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis. It was Sri Lanka’s second appearance in the World Twenty20 final, having lost to Pakistan in the 2009 title clash at Lord’s.
It was also the first time in four editions of the tournament that began in 2007 that a host country had made it past the semi-final round. Rival captains Mahela Jayawardene and Mohammad Hafeez top-scored for their teams with 42 each, but the other batsmen struggled to force the pace on a sluggish pitch that hampered stroke-making. Sri Lanka wasted a sound start to plod to 123-4 in 19 overs, before Thisara Perera smashed three boundaries in the final over of seamer Umar Gul, which realised 16 runs. Pakistan’s openers Hafeez and Imran Nazir began the reply on a confident note, putting on 31 for the first wicket in six overs. Mendis, brought on to send down the sixth over, broke the stand with the last delivery by bowling Nazir for 20. Pakistan moved to 55-1 in the ninth over when Mathews grabbed two wickets in four balls to swing the match Sri Lanka’s way.
