Player of the Match
Player of the Match

That is all from us for this match then. Have a look at Kanishkaa Balachandran's match report. Siddarth Ravindran will have more stories later from the ground. This is Abhishek Purohit signing off for the moment. Cheers

Aizaz Cheema is the Man of the Match for his four wickets. Cheema: "I was under lot of pressure but captain came to me and said bowl attacking deliveries and don't worry. With the new ball, I thought it would come on to the bat even if I bowled the slower one, so I kept it for later. The kind of start they got against me, I thought there is no way out. But the captain and Shahid Afridi supported me."

Misbah: "It was a really good partnership between me and Umar Akmal. I told him to play his normal game, the runs automatically came. Cheema was hit for a lot of fours in his first couple of overs. I told him your main weapon is aggression, so bowl with aggression, No point containing batsmen on these pitches, best to take wickets. It was important for me to get my confidence back, England series was not good for me, so this innings is a confidence booster. We have to be more consistent with the bat, the bowling is always keeping us in hunt."

Mahela: "Batting first we felt 250-260 would have been a good score, we had a good start, but we lost too many wickets and exposed our lower middle order. I thought the Pakistanis bowled really well. They had a much better game than us today. The argument [about the Sri Lanka batting being top-heavy] can go both ways. If we [seniors] bat in the middle order, the day we go, there will be no one in the middle order. The youngsters will learn from these mistakes. When we click at the top, we finish off games."

Pakistan's batsmen not letting down their bowlers, who set up what was an easy win in the end. Misbah-ul-Haq is applauded off the ground by an appreciative Mirpur crowd. Calm, risk-free batting from both Misbah and Umar Akmal taking Pakistan all but into the Asia Cup final.

jackthelad: "Best thing that could happen, Sri being bundled out early - they should never have been there in the first place, given the crazy fixture congestion. I'm hoping to see some competitive cricket against England, not a team of walking wounded!"

39.5
4
Prasanna to Hammad Azam, FOUR, Pakistan will get the bonus point after all, Azam finishes it with a loft between the bowler and mid off, takes on the tossed up ball on off stump, and mows it down the ground
39.4
0
Prasanna to Hammad Azam, no run, moves a long way across and outside off stump, and forces it to midwicket
39.3
0
Prasanna to Hammad Azam, no run, beats him totally, carries straight on with the angle after being flighted, he ends up pushing outside the line
39.2
0
Prasanna to Hammad Azam, no run, blocked off the front foot
39.1
0
Prasanna to Hammad Azam, no run, pushed away to extra cover

END OF OVER:
39 | 10 Runs 1 Wkt | PAK: 185/4 (4 runs required from 11 overs, RR: 4.74, RRR: 0.36)

  • Misbah-ul-Haq72 (93b)
  • Farveez Maharoof7-0-23-1
  • Seekkuge Prasanna7-1-45-1
38.6
W
Maharoof to Umar Akmal, OUT, he perishes, but after having set up Pakistan's win, wanted to finish it with another six over midwicket, instead he ended up hitting it high, almost vertically, in the air, I don't envy the fielder who has to settle under it, it is Tharanga, and he does a very good job in the end, tumbles down on the ground around midwicket, remains there for a moment, but he has pouched it

Umar Akmal c Tharanga b Maharoof 77 (121m 72b 7x4 2x6) SR: 106.94

38.5
1
Maharoof to Misbah-ul-Haq, 1 run, yet another short ball, going down leg, does not get up much, Misbah helps it along to fine leg with a controlled pull
38.4
0
Maharoof to Misbah-ul-Haq, no run, drives a pitched up ball back to the bowler
38.3
1
Maharoof to Umar Akmal, 1 run, down to fine leg for one
38.2
6
Maharoof to Umar Akmal, SIX, Umar launches this into the Dhaka night, opens up, clears front leg, and lifts the length ball from off stump over wide long on

Fasahat: "Amazing cricket from Pakistan. Whatmore could you ask for?

38.1
2
Maharoof to Umar Akmal, 2 runs, walks down the pitch before the bowler enters his delivery stride and works the length ball behind square

Karan: "Umar Akmal did some justice to his talent as compared to Rohit Sharma of India."

vivek: "Sri Lanka ousted India out of the finals in the CB series so that India could get some rest before Asia Cup. Now, Sri Lanka are on the verge of crashing out of the Asia Cup. This way they can get optimum rest before the England series."

END OF OVER:
38 | 6 Runs | PAK: 175/3 (14 runs required from 12 overs, RR: 4.60, RRR: 1.16)

  • Umar Akmal68 (68b)
  • Misbah-ul-Haq71 (91b)
  • Seekkuge Prasanna7-1-45-1
  • Lasith Malinga8-1-44-0
37.6
1
Prasanna to Umar Akmal, 1 run, they go for the single after a cut to short third man, Umar has to hurry, but he makes it in the end
37.5
0
Prasanna to Umar Akmal, no run, make some room and punches from middle and off to extra cover
37.4
0
Prasanna to Umar Akmal, no run, cuts the widish delivery violently, but straight to cover
37.3
0
Prasanna to Umar Akmal, no run, defended off the front foot

Leg gully in place

37.2
1
Prasanna to Misbah-ul-Haq, 1 run, standing way outside off stump and bashes it down to long on
37.1
4
Prasanna to Misbah-ul-Haq, FOUR, sets himself up for the reverse dab very early and helps it along fine on the off side

Haroon: "Unbelievable batting, what did Whatmore put in their lunch boxes?"

Varun: "I dont know why you guys think that Umar Akmal does not do justice to his talent.....he is averaging 39+ in middle order...that is very good....and he is 12th in the world in ICC odi batsmen rankings....by far the highest ranked pakistani batsmen...what else do you want from the young boy???" A cooler head, for starters

END OF OVER:
37 | 9 Runs | PAK: 169/3 (20 runs required from 13 overs, RR: 4.56, RRR: 1.53)

  • Umar Akmal67 (64b)
  • Misbah-ul-Haq66 (89b)
  • Lasith Malinga8-1-44-0
  • Suranga Lakmal8-1-37-2
36.6
0
Malinga to Umar Akmal, no run, he is completely at ease with the yorker length around off stump, remains steady, bat comes down in time to squeeze it out to point

Pakistan 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st29Mohammad HafeezNasir Jamshed
2nd2Younis KhanMohammad Hafeez
3rd2Younis KhanMisbah-ul-Haq
4th152Misbah-ul-HaqUmar Akmal
5th4Misbah-ul-HaqHammad Azam