Scorer: Gopi Rangarajan | Commentator: Sidharth Monga
So we move to Colombo with the series level. Thanks for joining us tonight. Cheers
"We were not far away from putting everything together, so credit to the guys for doing so," says Mahela Jayawardene. "We swapped the batting order in Australia, so we can be flexible. It's good that we can keep changing. It was important that one of us stays till the end so it was good Dilshan did so. Perera is brilliant. It;s great to have such allrounders, Angelo and him. Hopefully we keep them both healthy for a long period of time."
"They played really well," says Misbah-ul-Haq. "Their opening partnership was very good. Dilshan, Mahela, then the finish. The wicket was very good. The way we started it was gettable. When me and Umar Akmal, the game turned. We have to work really hard in all three departments. They were better than us in all three departments."
Thisara Perera is the Man of the Match. Says he: "It is a 50-50 wicket. You can hit also, and you can get wickets too. Really enjoyed myself. I could play my natural game. Now it's 1-1, and we have to carry this performance forward."
Comprehensive win for Sri Lanka. It began with Dilshan switching to ODI mode, and the rest batting around him. A responsible, hard-working century from Dilshan and cameos at the other end helped SL post a total much bigger than has even been successfully chased against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Pakistan were surprisingly not as aggressive the other day: Ajmal was used as a container during Powerplay overs, while sides usually use their best bowlers to try to pick wickets.
Pakistan made a good start to their chase, but again in the middle overs fell back a little bit, and Sri Lanka were happy to slowly and gradually mount pressure. It was a combination of thin batting (Afridi bats at No. 6), low confidence, and defensive mindset that took the asking rate to over 7 for the last 20, and close to nine for the last 15. Wickets fell under pressure, but Perera's effort should not be forgotten. He kept Pakistan under check with regular wickets, six of them. And that catch to dismiss Hafeez was an absolute blinder. How about this? Sri Lanka conceded only two extras, and that too leg-byes. A toss-up between Dilshan and Perera for the Man of the Match. I am biased towards bowlers, so my pick will be Perera, but let's see who the official MoM is.
Sarfaraz Ahmed lbw b Kulasekara 20 (44m 27b 2x4 0x6) SR: 74.07
Rahat Ali walks out. Batsmen that tall are not known for long innings. Sarf is on strike, though. Kula is back
Saeed Ajmal c †Sangakkara b Malinga 4 (5m 5b 1x4 0x6) SR: 80.00
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Not surprisingly, a question I was often asked, especially in the smaller towns like Hambantota, Galle and Kandy, was "are you from Pakistan?"
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