ABU DHABI: Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by two wickets in the second Twenty20 international played in Abu Dhabi on Friday, to win the three-match series.
Pakistan needed 125 runs to clinch the T20 series against Sri Lanka after another brilliant display of bowling.
Shoaib Malik was caught behind on a ball by Perera while Ahmed Shehzad was also caught on a ball by the same bowler.
Medium-pace Faheem Ashraf ripped through the Sri Lankan batting line-up as he claimed three wickets in just as many balls, getting a hat-trick in the 19th over.
MD Shanaka, I Udana and ML Udawatte fell one after the other as a relentless Ashraf did not let the new batsmen settle in on the crease.
Sri Lanka was off to a steady start against Pakistan and kept the scoreboard ticking at a steady rate.
MD Gunathilaka and EMDY Munaweera looked to be establishing a stable partnership as Pakistan looked for its first breakthrough.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and sent Sri Lanka into bat.
Pakistan kept the same team which won the first match by seven wickets, also played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, on Thursday.
The third and final match will be played in Lahore on Sunday.
FAHEEM BECOMES FIRST PAKISTANI TO ACHIEVE T20I HAT-TRICK: Pakistan’s young bowler Faheem Ashraf, on Friday, became the first ever Pakistani to achieve a hat-trick in T20Is, the shortest format of the game.
The 23-year-old bowler got wickets of Udana, Udawatte and Shanaka to become the only sixth player in the twenty-over format in Abu Dhabi during the second T20I against Sri Lanka.
Ashraf’s fiery over was the penultimate over of Sri Lanka’s innings in which he claimed three consecutive wickets on the last three deliveries of the over.
His first victim was Isuru Udana, who was caught by Hasan Ali at short fine leg, on the fourth delivery of the 19th over of Sri Lanka’s innings.
On the next delivery, Mahela Udawatte went for an uppercut but was caught by Babar Azam on the point boundary.
Then came Dasun Shanaka to face the hat-trick delivery, the ball angled towards middle stump and hit on the upraised front pad, in front of middle and the on-field umpire judged him LBW out.
Faheem Ashraf is the sixth player overall to achieve the unique feat of hat-trick in T20Is.
Before him, Australia’s Brett Lee, New Zealand’s Jacob Oram and Tim Southee along with Sri Lankan duo of Thisara Perera and Lasith Malinga have achieved this feat.
Faheem is also the first Pakistani bowler in fifteen years across all formats to achieve three-in-three, the last Pakistani bowler to achieve an international hat-trick was Mohammad Sami, who achieved the feat during Lahore Test against Sri Lanka in March 2002.
Wasim Akram (twice) and Abdul Razzaq are other Pakistanis to achieve hat-tricks in Test Cricket.
In ODIs, Pakistan’s Jalaluddin achieved the first-ever hat-trick in 1982. Wasim Akram, Aqib Javed, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mohammad Sami were other Pakistani bowlers to achieve ODI hat-tricks.
