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| April 5, 2003 | Saturday | Safar 2, 1424 |
Pakistan overwhelm Sri Lanka by seven wickets
SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, April 4: Pakistan’s revamped cricket team virtually ensured their place in the Sharjah Cup final with a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka here on Friday.
Having restricted Sri Lanka to a modest 223-6 despite a maiden one-day century from Kumar Sangakkara, Pakistan’s young batsmen flourished under lights to cruise home with 16 deliveries to spare.
Mohammad Hafeez scored 50 in only his second match and Faisal Iqbal, nephew of current coach Javed Miandad, hit 32 in a second-wicket stand of 76.
After both batsmen were run out in the space of four deliveries to reduce Pakistan to 101-3, seniors Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan took over to add 124 off 110 balls for the unbroken fourth wicket.
Youhana returned unbeaten on 64, while Younis made 57 not out.
It was Pakistan’s second win in two days after crushing Zimbabwe by 68 runs on Thursday, and even a tied result in their last match against Kenya will see them through to next week’s final.
Pakistan could not have hoped for a better start to their rebuilding process under new captain Rashid Latif after eight top stars, including Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Inzamam-ul Haq, were sacked following the first round exit from the World Cup.
Sri Lanka must now defeat fellow World Cup semifinalists Kenya, and Zimbabwe, in their remaining matches to stay in contention for the final.
The Sri Lankans were left to rue a costly error by fielder Jehan Mubarak, who missed a simple catch at long-on off the bowling of captain Sanath Jayasuriya when Youhana was on 10.
The defeat overshadowed Sangakkara’s first three-figure knock in his 86th one-dayer that allowed Sri Lanka to recover from a shaky start and post a challenging total.
The left-hander overcame his modest form at the World Cup to make an unbeaten 100 off 111 balls and beat back a spirited display in the field by the fired-up Pakistanis.
Sri Lanka, electing to bat first on the slow wicket, slumped to 166-6 before Sangakkara and recalled veteran Kumar Dharmasena put on 57 for the undefeated seventh wicket.
Sangakkara reached his century off the penultimate ball of the innings while Dharmasena remained unbeaten on 23.
Pakistan’s latest new ball attack of Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul removed the dangerous Sri Lankan opening pair of Marvan Atapattu and Jayasuriya cheaply.
Gul, who claimed two wickets on his debut on Thursday, bowled Atapattu for 13 with a ball that swung in sharply.
Jayasuriya made 27 when he drove Sami uppishly to cover where Hafeez took a waist-high catch and reduced Sri Lanka to 44-2.
Sri Lanka moved to a promising 166-4 in the 42nd over when Rana Hasan swung the game around with two wickets off successive balls.
Both Hashan Tillekeratne and Prasanna Jayawardena failed to negotiate the reverse swing which Hasan generated and were yorked, but Dharmasena denied the bowler a hat trick.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka:
M. Atapattu b Gul 13
S. Jayasuriya c Hafeez b Sami 27
A. Gunawardena run out 17
K. Sangakkara not out 100
J. Mubarak st Latif b Malik 20
H. Tillekeratne b Naveed 11
P. Jayawardena b Naveed 0
K. Dharmasena not out 23
Extras (LB-5, W-5, NB-2) 12
TOTAL (for six wkts) 223
Fall of wkts: 1-26, 2-44, 3-84, 4-126,
5-166, 6-166
BOWLING: Sami 10-2-36-1, Umer Gul 9-0-47-1, Hafeez 5-0-26-0, Naveed-ul-Hasan 10-0-55-2, Razzaq 6-0-18-0, Shoaib Malik 10-0-36-1
Pakistan:
Mohammad Hafeez run out 50
Taufiq Umer b Fernando 6
Faisal Iqbal run out 32
Yousuf Youhana not out 64
Younis Khan not out 57
EXTRAS (LB-9, W-5, NB-2) 16
Total (for 3 wkts, 47.2 overs) 225
FALL OF WKTS: 1-21, 2-97, 3-101
Bowling: Buddhika 10-1-41-0, Fernando 8-1-34-1, Dharmasena 9.2-0-51-0, Muralitharan 10-0-33-0, Jayasuriya 10-0-57-0
Umpires: Kevan Barbour (ZIM) and Billy Doctrove (WIS)
TV umpire: Avi Jayaprakash (IND)
Match referee: Ahmed Ebrahim (ZIM)
Saturday’s match: Kenya v Zimbabwe
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