–Pakistan lose first match to guests by 64 runs after inexperienced Sri Lankans score 165-5
LAHORE: Lahore on Saturday hosted Sri Lanka cricket team 10 years after a deadly attack on the same team that had seen international cricket leaving the country due to security concerns.
The stadium, jam-packed with spectators who thronged the Gaddafi Stadium to show support for the guest team augured well for inexperienced Sri Lanka that stunned Pakistan by 64 runs in the first Twenty20 international in Lahore on Saturday, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Security remained a main concern for the law enforcement agencies for the day that had left no stone unturned to ensure security for the visiting guests.
However, tightened security measures created problems for commuters and residents alike. Major arteries of the city, with the exception of Mall Road, Jail Road, remained blocked for normal traffic, leading to people being stuck at home.
Abdullah Khan, a commuter travelling to Anarkali from Cavalry, told Pakistan Today that it took more than two hours and several detours to reach his destination. He pointed out the lack of coordination among the city traffic police and the law enforcement agencies.
Maria Noreen, who works in a newspaper located near Lakshmi Chowk, failed to reach her office because of tailbacks due to the heightened security for the team. She said that the people living near Garden Town were stranded in their homes because the government, without providing any alternatives, blocked the routes that linked their locality to other parts of the city.
PAKISTAN LOSES TO SRI LANKA:
Sri Lanka rode to 165 for 5 on Danushka Gunathilaka’s rapid fifty, before the bowlers shut Pakistan down in unexpectedly ruthless fashion, taking three early wickets, before wiping out the remainder of the batting order through the middle overs.
Against the No. 1-ranked T20 side in the world, Sri Lanka’s 64-run victory was a substantial upset. The attack did not have the skill nor leadership of Lasith Malinga, and yet produced a supreme team performance, Nuwan Pradeep and Isuru Udana taking three wickets apiece, Wanindu Hasaranga claiming two, and Kasun Rajitha one. Even Lakshan Sandakan, who went wicketless, played an important role in Sri Lanka’s defence, conceding no more than 24 from his four overs.
Pakistan’s only major joy was fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain’s hat-trick, completed across two overs. He got Bhanuka Rajapaksa lbw at the end of the 16th over, before getting Dasun Shanaka and Shehan Jayasuriya to hole out at the start of the 18th. Hasnain is the ninth bowler to take a hat-trick in T20 internationals, and at 19, is the youngest to do it.
Beyond a 46-run fourth-wicket partnership between Sarfraz Ahmed and Iftikhar Ahmed, which ended in an awful run-out, Pakistan’s innings struggled for substance. No batsman crossed 30, the first three wickets fell for 22 runs, and the last seven for 33. They were all out in the 18th over – Udana the second Sri Lanka bowler to take two wickets in two balls, after Pradeep had done it earlier in the innings.
Gunathilaka played such a sublime lone hand through the early overs that when he was eventually out for 57 off 38 balls in the 10th, his opening partner Avishka Fernando had made no more than 16. His knock contained eight fours and a six over midwicket, three of those fours coming off a single Shadab Khan over, Gunathilaka biffing him through the legside, with the sweep, then the pull, then the sweep again.
Two overs earlier, he had slammed Hasnain for two offside fours as well. It was in the Powerplay that Gunathilaka wreaked the most damage, hitting 43 off 26, while the team total had sped to 64 for no loss by the end of the sixth over. Fernando had struck the first four of the innings, through point, but contented himself with turning the strike over as his partner hit a high gear.
Gunathilaka reached his fifty with his only six, off Shadab, but was eventually dismissed by Shadab, lbw to a hard-spun legbreak. Fernando never managed to raise his strike rate, getting out for 33 off 34 balls, but the momentum that had been injected to the innings was taken forward by Rajapaksa, playing his first ever international. He hit two sixes and two fours in his 32 off 22 balls, before captain Shanaka produced an important cameo, launching Faheem Ashraf for two legside sixes on his way to 17 off 10.
