Sri Lanka will now have their chance of levelling the series in just two days time. Till then, this is Rohan Sharma, on behalf of the scorer, wishing you good night (or morning) wherever you may be.
Here are some Hafeez quotes as well: "The boys really showed character, and we were looking for a good start, so the boys got that for us. We went into the middle and tried a couple of things, with the young players. In this game Shahid Afridi was brilliant. It's always difficult to set a total here, so that's what I was thinking. We had three spinners in the team, so we had the dew on our minds as well.
Some Afridi quotes from Andrew Fernando: "Pakistan won and I'm very happy for that. I have to mention Mohammad Hafeez, who was not feeling well but still he played for the country. We had good support from the crowd. The bowling was good, but I want to be more consistent in my batting"
Unfortunately folks I won't be able to provide any post-match presentation as the telecast has switched over to another program. Will be getting some quotes from my colleague, Andrew Fernando, so will add those in a little while. What you need to know though is that Pakistan have won this first encounter by three wickets, with Afridi hitting a ridiculous six outside off over to fine leg to seal the chase.
Shahid Afridi, for his unbeaten 39 off 20 balls, has been deemed Man of the Match
What an exciting finish to a match which seemed a foregone conclusion till Sri Lanka began taking out key wickets at important junctures of the chase. Lasith Malinga was the star of the show for them, and could have got more than his 3 for 26. But it was innings from Mohammed Hafeez (32), Sharjeel Khan (34) and Shahid Afridi (39*) that kept the Pakistan chase on course. We will take just a quick break before we are back for the match presentation
So 6 are required off the final over. What do we have in store for us?
END OF OVER:19 | 6 Runs 1 Wkt | PAK: 140/7 (6 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 7.36, RRR: 6.00)
- Shahid Afridi33 (19b)
- Sohail Tanvir0 (0b)
- Lasith Malinga4-0-26-3
- Thisara Perera3-0-27-1
Bilawal Bhatti c NLTC Perera b Malinga 10 (15m 8b 1x4 0x6) SR: 125.00
Asim: "This is Afridi's format. He owns it.
END OF OVER:18 | 13 Runs | PAK: 134/6 (12 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 7.44, RRR: 6.00)
- Shahid Afridi30 (16b)
- Bilawal Bhatti7 (5b)
- Thisara Perera3-0-27-1
- Lasith Malinga3-0-20-2
Rakesh S: "A couple of 6's or boundaries in this over and Pakistan can win this in singles. Will they??"
And with that single Afridi becomes the first player to score 1000 T20 runs and take 50 T20 wickets
Thisara into the attack once again
END OF OVER:17 | 4 Runs 1 Wkt | PAK: 121/6 (25 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 7.11, RRR: 8.33)
- Bilawal Bhatti2 (3b)
- Shahid Afridi22 (12b)
- Lasith Malinga3-0-20-2
- Nuwan Kulasekara3-0-24-0
