Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s HIGHLIGHTS of the Sri Lanka vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 match from the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on Friday.
SRI LANKA BEAT PAKISTAN BY FIVE WICKETS
Hasnain is back. SIX! Top edge on the pull for Shanaka but it flies over fine-leg for a maximum. OUT! Shanaka wants to go big again but only ends up hitting it high in the air. A bit of confusion as two fielders converge from long-on and long-off but Hasan Ali clings on to the ball and completes the catch. Shanaka has to go. Hasaranga comes in next. Down leg, Hasaranga doesn’t get bat on it and collect a leg-bye. FOUR! Dropped and it runs away to the boundary for four runs. A couple more next ball as Hasaranga backs away outside leg and drills the ball to deep extra cover. FOUR! That’s the game! Hasaranga cuts this behind square for a boundary. Sri Lanka wins by five wickets with 18 balls to spare.
Hasan Ali back into the attack. Nissanka back away outside leg and flat-bats this to long-on for a single. Short one, Shanaka makes room and wants to uppercut it but doesn’t connect. Rizwan believes he heard a noise and goes upstairs without consulting Babar Azam, who looks perplexed. Replays confirm there was no bat involved. A couple to end the over as Nissanka drags this from far outside off to the gap at deep midwicket.
Rauf comes back now. Yorker and Nissanka whips this off the pads to fine leg for a single. Shanaka drives the next one to the cover fielder. Beaten! Change of pace as this is a quicker one and Shanaka is beaten in the channel. Turned away off the pads for a boundary at fine-leg. SIX! In the slot, on the stumps and Shanaka slogs this over long-on for a maximum. Shanaka swings and misses outside off.
Qadir bowls out. Shanaka shuffles across and goes for the sweep but doesn’t connect well. One leg-bye. Nissanka rocks back and pulls this to long-on for a single and gets to his fifty off 41 balls. Qadir beats Shanaka with another ripping leg-spinner that turns away and beats the outside edge. Shanaka drives a flighted delivery through mid-off for a single. Pushed through covers by Nissanka off the last ball for a single. It won’t be the last ball as Qadir has overstepped. Free hit coming up and Shanaka is on strike. Shanaka steps out but only digs this yorker out back to the bowler.
Nawaz bowls out. Sri Lanka wil look to play him out without further damage. A slip in place as Shanaka comes on strike to face his first ball. He whips a flighted delivery on leg to long-on for a single. Just four singles from the over. Nissanka moves to 49.
SIX! Full toss on the pads from Qadir and Nissanka hammers that over deep midwicket for a maximum. OUT! Qadir has the last laught however as Rajapaksa holes out at deep midwicket going for a slog sweep. Stunning leg spinner from Qadir and it beats Nissanka’s front-foot defence.
Tight over after the break as Nawaz concedes just five singles. But Sri Lanka will take it as the asking rate is under control.
SIX! Long hop from Qadir and Rajapaksa pulls this over wide long-on for a maximum. 11 runs from the over.
Nawaz continues. Rizwan misses an easy stumping first ball. Extra bounce and Rajapksa steps out and misses but Rizwan fails to collect it cleanly. Just four runs from the over.
Qadir to bowl. Starts off with a legbreak on the stumps and Nissanka pushes this through covers for a single. He darts in the googly to Rajapaksa to beat him outside off stump. SIX! Rajapaksa slog sweeps the next delivery and sends it sailing over deep midwicket for a maximum.
Spin into the equation as Nawaz comes with the ball. No boundaries but both Rajapaksa and Nissanka running well between the wickets to collect eight runs from the over.
Hasan Ali will continue. FOUR! Nissanka swipes across the line of the ball and collects a boundary at deep midwicket. Eight runs from the over, including two fours. Hasan Ali has been expensive so far.
Rauf continues. FOUR! De Silva pulls this short one to the deep midwicket boundary. OUT! Leading edge as de Silva closes the face of the bat too early and the ball loops up to the mid-off fielder. SL three down and this match is wide open now.
Hasan Ali into the attack. Nissanka sends him for two back to back boundaries after a lucky first-ball four over the slips. 15 runs from the over and Sri Lanka finally getting a move on in this chase.
Chance and put down! De Silva whacked the length ball back to the bowler and it just went past his head. Beaten! De Silva goes for the drive outside off and the ball misses his outside edge by a whisker. Extra bounce and this gets big on De Silva, who hops and defends. Fuller on the stumps and De Silva pushes this to mid-off and scampers for a single. Searing yorker and NIssanka just about gets some bat on it.
Rauf from the other end. OUT! Gunathilaka walks back for a duck. He also pokes in the channel, gets an outside edge and Rizwan leaps to his left to take a good catch. Dhananjaya de Silva in at No. 4. De Silva is off the mark with a single behind point. Two dots to end the over. Rauf keeps it back of a length.
OUT! Kusal Mendis goes early and Mohammad Hasnain gets the wicket. A bit of movement away on a length outside off. Mendis pokes at it and gets an outside edge to the slip fielder. Two from the over. Gunathilaka and Nissanka at the crease.
PAKISTAN 121 ALL OUT IN 19.1 OVERS
Madushan will bowl the final over. OUT! Gone first ball of the over and Pakistan is all out for 121. Rauf holes out at long-on.
Madushanka bowls his last over. Rauf on strike. He pushes this fullish one through covers for a single and Nawaz gets back on strike. Full on the pads and Nawaz looks to whip it away on leg-side but misses. The buzzer goes off and that’s a no-ball for overstepping. Nawaz to face the free hit. Dug into the pitch, wide outside off and Nawaz swings and misses. Good yorker, Nawaz makes room by backing away on leg and collects a couple. SIX! Half-volley on the stumps and Nawaz pummels this over the bowler’s head for a maximum. OUT! Nawaz scampers for a second after hitting this to deep midwicket but is well short of his crease. Perfect yorker to end the over.
Theekshana bowls out. Flattish delivery outside off and Qadir shuffles across a bit and whips it for a single on the leg. SIX! Nawaz with a flourish here at the end. Width outside off and Nawaz crashes this length ball over deep point for a maximum. OUT! Another Pakistan batter holes out in the deep. Qadir goes for the big slog sweep but picks deep midwicket to perfection.
Madushanka comes back. A close run out chance at the non-striker’s end as Usman Qadir scampers for a single after pushing the ball to mid-on. Slower length ball outside off and Nawaz turns it away on leg-side for one more. Short stuff from the left-arm pacer and Qadir ducks under it. Searing yorker and Qadir digs it out to mid-on for a quick single. FOUR! Slower half-volley on off-stump and Nawaz drills that one to the long-off boundary for four runs.
Theekshana back into the attack. Hasan Ali goes for the reverse swing the first ball he faces, connects but straight to short third man. OUT! He goes for yet another attacking shot and ends up slog sweeping straight into the hands of Hasaranga at deep square-leg.
Hasaranga bowls out. SIX! Finally a big hit connect for Pakistan. Iftikhar gets low and slog sweeps a big one over deep midwicket. OUT! Gone next ball. He goes for the sweep but the googly stays lows, goes under the bat and off the pads before crashing into the stumps. OUT! Bowled again and Hasaranga has two in two. Asif Ali loses his off stump.
OUT! de Silva gets Khushdil as the batters charges down the track and ends up skying the ball to long-on. Nawaz comes in and gets off the mark with a single off the last ball of the over.
Theekshana bowls his second over. A single and a leg-bye conceded in the over.
Dhananjaya de Silva to bowl. Four singles from the over. Iftikhar and Khushdil at the crease.
Hasaranga bowls his third over. Flighted outside off stump and Babar hammers that through covers for just a single. Ifthikhar punches one off the backfoot for one more. OUT! Babar is cleaned up and Hasaranga gets the skipper. Babar plays for the turn where there is none and is clean bowled. FIVE-WIDES! This spins away sharp outside leg stump and runs away for five extras.
Karunaratne into the attack. Fakhar gone second ball of the over. He uppercuts this straight to the deep point fielder. Karunaratne just giving away four runs and taking a wicket with his frequent change of pace.
Just two singles as Pakistan refuses to show any sense of hurry or urgency.
Another tight over from de Silva, just seven runs from it. Babar moves to 25.
Hasaranga into the attack after the PowerPlay. He tosses it up to Fakhar in search of a wicket. 50 up for PAK in 6.3 overs.
Madushan continues. FOUR! Fakhar greets him with a boundary. Full toss outside off, Fakhar clear his front leg and sends that crashing through mid-off for four runs. A couple more for Fakhar, but this time off an inside edge to deep midwicket. FOUR! Thick outside edge on that, past the slip fielder and Babar gets a lucky boundary. He clips this off his pads to mid-on and takes a quick single. Dot to end and Fakhar rides on some luck. He shuffled outside leg stump a bit and got an inside edge. The ball rolled and got stuck between the middle and leg stumps without the bails getting dislodged.
Dhananjaya de Silva into the attack. Tight over. Just three singles from it. He gets in on middle and leg to Fakhar, who looks a bit circumspect.
Debutant Madushan with the ball. He tumbles after delivering his first ball, which is a dot. Wide outside off next ball and extra run for Pakistan. Full around middle and off stump and Rizwan drives this to mid-off for a couple. OUT! The debutant strikes and Rizwan has to go. Length ball outside off, Rizwan wants to smash that over mid-off but ends up slicing too high to the short fine-leg fielder. Babar is almost gone next ball as he gets a leading edge that just goes clear of cover. A couple of twos for Babar to end the over.
Madushanka continues and induces an outside edge from Rizwan off the first ball, which goes to deep third for a single. Wide down leg side, past the keeper and that runs away for five wides. Lenght outside, Babar times the cut to perfection but straight to cover fielder for a dot ball. Length ball again, closer to off stump and Babar punches it straight to mid-off. Good bouncer and Babar bails out of the pull right on time. Driven back to the bowler to make it four consecutive dots in the over. Last ball coming up. Dot to end the over.
Theekshana with the ball for the second over. Theekshana goes a bit too straight, conceding a wide down leg and then letting Rizwan get on his knee and lap one to fine-leg for a couple. Single to end the over. Eight runs from it.
Babar and Rizwan are out to get things underway. Madushanka with the new ball. Over the wicket to Babar. Length ball angling away outside off stump and Babar drives but misses. Full on the pads this one and Babar flicks it off his pads for a couple at deep square-leg. It’ll be just the one as Babar doesn’t plant his bat across the crease at the non-striker’s end. A leading edge off Rizwan’s blade and falls just short of mid-off fielder. A couple of runs. Flicked to square leg for one more next ball. Babar ends the over with a crisp straight drive for four runs to make it 11 runs from the first over.
The teams walk out for the national anthems. Pakistan’s anthem up first.
TOSS: Sri Lanka wins the toss and elects to bowl. Both teams have two changes each. Dhananjaya de Silva and Pramod Madhusan are in for Charith Asalanka and Asitha Fernando. For Pakistan, Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah have been rested and Usman Qadir and Hasan Ali come in for them.
PAKISTAN PLAYING XI: Mohammad Rizwan (wK), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Hasan Ali.
SRI LANKA PLAYING XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Pramod Madhusan, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka.
The toss is not far away. Both teams could be looking to bat, considering it hasn’t been easy defending totals in this tournament and they might just have to do it in the final.
Out of the 21 T20Is played between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Sri Lanka has won only eight while losing 13. However, Sri Lanka has won the last three T20Is against Pakistan, way back in 2019.
We are less than an hour away from the toss. Both teams could rest some key players ahead of the final on Sunday. While India is out of the competition, here is a report card on the team and a roadmap of sorts ahead of the T20 World Cup next month.
MATCH PREVIEW
In a dress rehearsal of the 2022 Asia Cup final, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, two teams with a 100 per cent win record in the Super 4 round, will face each other in Dubai on Friday.
Pakistan is fresh off a thrilling win against Afghanistan in Sharjah, while Sri Lanka is riding the crest of a confidence wave after beating defending champion India in its last game.
Matchups in focus
Sri Lanka would likely remain unchanged, which means three left-handed batters in the top six. Pakistan’s spinners, leggie Shadab Khan and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, usually bowl the bulk of their spell between overs 7 and 16 and stifle the scoring rate. Their faceoff with the Lankan southpaws could decide which way the momentum swings in middle overs. In all T20s, Shadab has picked up 181 wickets in the middle overs at an economy rate of 7.06. Nawaz has 85 at 7.27 during the same phase.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s pace trio of Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain will have its task cut out in the PowerPlay. Sri Lanka has the second-best PowerPlay run rate (8.45) - behind Afghanistan (8.70) - in this tournament, with openers Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka looking to wrest the early advantage with their flamboyant strokeplay. Early wickets inside the first six could put pressure on the Lankan middle-order.
Pitch and conditions
Expect another high-scoring game. Although the wickets are getting a tad slower, there are still plenty of runs to be had. Dew or now dew, teams have preferred chasing after winning the toss in Dubai. Sri Lanka, in particular, likes to chase. So, it will be interesting to see how it responds should Pakistan win the toss and insert them.
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