Pakistan beat Lanka in Sharjah final

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the final of the Sharjah Champions Trophy on Sunday.

They overhauled the Sri Lankan total of 173 in just 43.4 overs.

Pakistan took full advantage of some reckless Sri Lankan batting to dismiss them in just 44.2 overs.

The Sri Lanka batsmen failed to resist the temptation of slashing and nibbling at balls going away from them and duly paid the price.

The Pakistan bowling attack was led by Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram, who shared six wickets, while Waqar Younis returned with a haul of two for 20.

Sri Lanka, batting first after winning the toss, faltered early on, losing two wickets for 21 runs by the ninth over.

Avishka Gunawardene edged to the slips off Waqar while Marvan Atapattu snicked to wicketkeeper Rashid Latif off Wasim.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene steadied the innings with a stand of 58, but rash strokes undid all their hard work.

Skipper Jayasuriya smashed five fours in a 58-ball 34 before slashing at a Shahid Afridi delivery, which would have been called wide.

Shoaib, returning for a second spell, tightened Pakistan's grip on the match with a double blow.

Jayawardene hit Akhtar for a six but lost his wicket in the same over, cutting a delivery way outside the off-stump straight to Rashid Latif for 43.

Kumar Sangakkara was out in a similar fashion, and his wicket reduced Sri Lanka to 112 for five by the 30th over.

Arnold and Chamara Silva contributed a useful 40 runs for the sixth wicket before Akram trapped Arnold in front of the wicket.

Arnold, who left the field shaking his head in disbelief, made 47 off 51 balls.

The Sri Lanka innings crumbled after that and the Pakistan pace attack ripped through the lower order with little resistance.

Although the target was not very stiff, the Pakistan batsmen made heavy weather of it.

Openers Afridi and Naveed Latif put on 45 before the latter was caught behind trying to guide Prabhath Nissanka to third man.

Afridi slammed Muthiah Muralitharan's first ball for a six, only to hole out 4 deliveries later to mid-wicket after making 35 off 38 balls.

Yousuf Youhanna (40) and Younis Khan (4) were also dismissed by Muralitharan. He ended his quota of 10 over conceding just 22 runs.

Chaminda Vaas returned for his second spell to trap Inzamam-ul Haq leg-before for 28.

Tottering at 138 for 5 in the 37th over, the match seemed to be slipping away from Pakistan's hand.

However, the sixth-wicket pair of Abdur Razzaq and Rashid Latif steered the team to victory with 38 balls to spare

Sri Lankan innings
Pakistan innings

Reuters

Mail Cricket Editor