Pakistan v Sri Lanka – 5th One Day International – Pakistan storm to series victory – Match Recap
Sri Lanka 218 v Pakistan 219 - Pakistan won by 3 wickets (with 16 balls remaining)
On Wednesday, November 23, 2011 Pakistan stormed their way to a series victory against Sri Lankan after winning the 5th and final match of the One Day International (ODI) series by three wickets at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imtiaz-Sheikh-c64290 Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Coming into the match, Pakistan were citing a fifth place in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 rankings while Sri Lanka were playing for pride as they wanted to grab at least another win in the series before going back home.
However, the match turned out to be another disappointing event as they failed to subdue the Men in Green.
After winning the toss, Sri Lanka chose to bat first in a bid to post a respectable total on the board to give Pakistan a run for their money as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 are always a vulnerable side when batting second.
However, Pakistan bowlers were up to speed as they knew the importance of winning the match and were in no mood to allow the Sri Lankan batsmen gain an upper hand in the contest.
Pakistan drew first blood in the fourth over when they dismissed Sri Lankan opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/WU-Tharanga-c2802, who after scoring only three runs, lost his wicket when the Lankans had posted 13 runs on the board.
Next to walk back to the pavilion was their skipper Dilshan who lost his wicket on 12 runs when the side had bolstered a mere 20 runs on the board.
Disaster struck in the 8th over when Sri Lanka lost their third wicket as middle-order batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sohail-Tanvir-c90665 after scoring only seven runs. At the time of this wicket, Sri Lanka had scored 32 runs and the way things were going the batting side was heading towards a complete meltdown.
However, before Pakistan could humiliate http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KC-Sangakkara-c1779, who batted his side to a respectable total as not only did he retain his wicket but also smashed applaudable shots all around the park.
The batsman was backed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mathews-c913 who also crafted stupendous batting against the belligerent Pakistan bowlers who were running wild before the Sri Lankan duo managed to subdue them.
The duo clobbered 118 runs together in the 5th wicket partnership which prevented Sri Lankan batting from being incinerated by Pakistan.
Pakistan then saw the back of Sangakkara on the penultimate delivery of the 39th over after he had smacked 78 runs.
Later, Mathews also lost his wicket after clobbering 61 runs as Sri Lanka finished their innings on 218 runs, giving their bowlers a fighting chance in the match.
Coming out to bat, Pakistan went in with regular opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Asad-Shafiq-c46208. The duo posted 25 runs before Hafeez lost his wicket after scoring 14 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Akmal-c94595 (61) that really made the difference as they helped the side come closer to the target.
While Misbah lost his wicket before batting his side to another victory, it was the young Akmal who kept his nerve and steered the side to a win even though Pakistan lost seven wickets in the process.
Akmal was named as the Player of the Match while all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 who single-handedly won Pakistan the fourth match, earned the Player of the Series title.
Tags: