22.55: The presentation is on. While they thank the Police Department and the Fire Department, you guys can catch your breath. You don't often lose 7 wickets for 19 everyday.
Shahid Afridi: It was a team effort and Misbah-ul-Haq is leading the team very well. Misbah said we needed just one wicket and we all clicked well. In the first innings the ball was coming on slow but in the second it seemed better.
Dilshan: "Afridi batted really well with Ajmal. Our batting unit didn't do anything. 200 was a very gettable total here. I can't believe we lost 7 wickets for 20 runs. We have to come back hard."
Misbah: "Wonderful that everybody's putting their hands up. We have world class bowlers and they really put the pressure on. Once we got Sangakkara and Jayawardene we knew the game was in our hands."
That's it from us here. These low-scoring thrillers keep the interest of ODI cricket alive so we have to thank these two teams for that. Too bad for Sri Lanka though. They will play for pride on Wednesday. Join us then. Cheers!
When Afridi slid at the boundary and took a piece of that turf with him, there were fears if he would be able to return to bowl. He did, and in due course returned to haunt Sri Lanka. Now Afridi will want to take that Sharjah turf with him and preserve it.
Let's not forget Afridi's contribution with the bat. He rescued them from 120 for 7, rallied around the tail and took the score to 200. He batted responsibly and gave his team belief that even 200 was defendable.
So Pakistan have taken the series 3-1, leaving the final game a dead rubber. Sri Lanka have some serious depth issues with their batting. The responsibility on the Big 3 - Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan is proving too much.
Usama: "So what if we are missing Asif & Aamir? (be back soon please) What an attack! Umar Gul is yet to complete his quota of 10 overs in a single match this series."
NLTC Perera c Umar Akmal b Shahid Afridi 7 (21m 11b 1x4 0x6) SR: 63.63
This low-scorer is quite the anti-thesis to what we're used to seeing in ODI cricket these days
END OF OVER:45 | 5 Runs 1 Wkt | SL: 174/9 (27 runs required from 30 balls, RR: 3.86, RRR: 5.40)
- Dilhara Fernando0 (1b)
- Thisara Perera7 (9b)
- Saeed Ajmal9-1-29-2
- Shahid Afridi9-0-35-4
The bowler was Ajmal, not Hafeez
SL Malinga lbw b Saeed Ajmal 4 (6m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 66.66