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!"
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
Umar Akmal c Tharanga b Maharoof 77 (121m 72b 7x4 2x6) SR: 106.94
Fasahat: "Amazing cricket from Pakistan. Whatmore could you ask for?
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
Leg gully in place
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