KARACHI: Former Test cricketer and chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed Sallu on Saturday showered praise on Pakistan cricket team for pulling off a fabulous last over win over Sri Lanka in the first One-day International played at Hambantota.

“It was a fantastic win, specially coming off on the heels of the Test series defeats which obviously would have lowered the team’s morale,” said Sallu. “But hats off to Misbah-ul-Haq and his men for regrouping in spectacular fashion at Hambantota to stun the hosts with a fine victory and take early lead in the three-match series.”

Lauding the match-winning partnership between Sohaib Maqsood and Fawad Alam, Sallu said they virtually steered Pakistan out of a black hole to come out trumps in the end for Pakistan.

“The match had clearly gone out of our grasp when we had lost five wickets for 100 odd, but the resilient manner in which Sohaib and Fawad fought back to neutralise Sri Lanka duo of Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath was marvellous,” said Sallu.

“After successfully chasing a daunting score of 276 in 45 overs, the team’s confidence will be sky high and that is great news for us.”

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2014