Player of the Match
Player of the Match
2097dThe Report by George Binoy

All-round Shahid Afridi helps square series

Shahid Afridi rescued Pakistan's innings from despair and built his team a middling total with a half-century. He then proceeded to tenaciously defend his hard work

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi
52(33) 5x4 - 1x6
Control %69%
  • Productive Shot
  • off side drive on front foot
  • 27 runs
  • 3x4 - 1x6
0 2 2 3 8 20 8 9
Shoaib Malik
Shoaib Malik
27(26) 3x4 - 0x6
Control %81%
  • Productive Shot
  • on side drive on front foot
  • 8 runs
  • 1x4 - 0x6
1 0 1 7 5 0 8 5

Best performances - Bowlers

Mohammad Sami
Mohammad Sami
O3
M0
R16
W3
Eco5.33
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
Yasir Arafat
Yasir Arafat
O3.2
M0
R18
W3
Eco5.40
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Match Details

Toss

Pakistan , elected to bat first

Player Of The Match

Player Of The Series

Series result

2-match series drawn 1-1

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

19.00 start, First Session 19.00-20.15, Interval 20.15-20.30, Second Session 20.30-21.45

Match days

3 June 2012 - night match (20-over match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Scorer: Sanjay Murari | Commentator: Sidharth Monga

Time for quotes from the presentation. This is a long ceremony with awards for many different things. But Afridi has cleared house here. Five out of seven. Now onto the Man of the Match. Again Sahibzada it is. "I am feeling good," Afridi says. "Main thing is, my team won. what else could I want? Arafat and Tanvir bowled well, and after that we just put pressure on. Whatmore is doing a really good job. He has given me space to focus on my skills."

Sohail Tanvir is Man of the Series. "Ball seamed around, and that's what I wanted, especially coming back," Tanvir says. "I enjoyed bowling in these conditions. It was difficult for the batsmen to time the ball. I enjoyed it though."

"We had to give a few chances to Kapu and Udana," says Sri Lanka captain Mathews. "We lost our way in the middle. We were brilliant in the field, they all gave 100%."

Finally, let's hear from Hafeez: "A great team effort where everybody played his role. The partnership between Malik and Afridi was crucial for us. With the new ball Sohail Tanvir was brilliant. And then Afridi with the ball again. And Saeed Ajmal."

As Hafeez and Mahela Jayawardene share the cheques and trophy, we take your leave. Thanks for joining us, do tune in for the longer formats of the series too

This is the lowest total Pakistan have ever defended. Afridi will surely get Man-of-the-Match award, and that will take his tally to seven, which will give him solo lead after he had been tied with Jayasuriya and Pietersen at six.

"Still not convinced by Sami, but it is good to see another Wild Thing in international cricket. An economy rate of over 9 doesn't lie, this guy knows how to entertain." PDTM, I get the drift of what you say, but I am sick and tired - absolutely sick and tired - of Twenty20 turning fast bowlers into slower-ball bowlers, who bowl the quick delivery as a variation. I want pace, I want - as you say - "wild things". There has to be something wrong with a world that makes Dale Steyn go cross-seam first ball of the match

Anyway, what did Sri Lanka do here? I am struggling to explain. Sanga and Dilshan going well through decent cricketing shots, and all of a sudden Sanga plays a wild shot when there is no run-rate pressure. Then they promote Kula. And it was all downhill from there

19.2
W
Yasir Arafat to Mathews, OUT, fittingly Afridi gets the last touch on the ball. This is his 50th T20I, and he has scored a fifty, taken wickets, and then the final catch. Mathews slices this slog towards long-off, and Afridi charges in to complete a low catch. Hafeez is delighted at first win as captain

AD Mathews c Shahid Afridi b Yasir Arafat 11 (28m 11b 0x4 0x6) SR: 100.00

19.1
2
Yasir Arafat to Mathews, 2 runs, Mathews makes room to smash this down the ground, and Akmal makes a diving save at long-on to keep them down to two

Arafat to bowl the last over. This is as good as over

END OF OVER:
19 | 4 Runs 1 Wkt | SL: 97/9 (26 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 5.10, RRR: 26.00)

  • Angelo Mathews9 (9b)
  • Isuru Udana1 (2b)
  • Mohammad Sami3-0-16-3
  • Saeed Ajmal4-0-20-1

Such was the confidence in him that Sami wasn't even going to bowl his four overs today. But he has provided us with a truly exciting two-over burst. High pace and accuracy, never mind those five wides

18.6
1
Mohammad Sami to Mathews, 1 run, full and straight, pushed to straight extra for a single
18.5
1
Mohammad Sami to Udana, 1 run, yorker, that's too good... at that pace. Dug out for a single to mid-off
18.4
0
Mohammad Sami to Udana, no run, fast, just outside off, tailender backing away, beaten
18.3
1
Mohammad Sami to Mathews, 1 run, backing away to make room, pushes this to deep point for one, and Mathews is off strike again

Sri Lanka 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st19TM DilshanKC Sangakkara
2nd0TM DilshanKMDN Kulasekara
3rd20TM DilshanCK Kapugedera
4th23CK KapugederaLD Chandimal
5th14LD ChandimalHDRL Thirimanne
6th9AD MathewsHDRL Thirimanne
7th5AD MathewsNLTC Perera
8th1KS LokuarachchiAD Mathews
9th3AD MathewsSMSM Senanayake
10th5AD MathewsI Udana