ABU DHABI: Despite skipper Upul Tharanga becoming the first Sri Lankan to carry his bat in One-day Internationals, Pakistan secured a 2-0 lead in the five-match series with a 32-run victory on Monday night (partly reported in Tuesday’s edition).

After Babar Azam hit a second successive century Pakistan bowlers, led by Shadab Khan, restricted Sri Lanka to 187 all out in 48 overs on a sluggish Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch.

Babar, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Sunday, scored 101 off 133 balls for his seventh ODI and his fifth on the trot in the UAE, while Shadab dug in to make an unbeaten 52 not out to help Pakistan post 219-9. The two featured in a 109-run stand after Pakistan were tottering at 101-6 against seamers Lahiru Gamage (4-57) and Thisara Perera (2-34).

Tharanga then struck an unbeaten 112 off 144 balls including 14 fours, but his heroics were not enough to level the series.

Paceman Junaid Khan removed Niroshan Dickwella for three in the third over, spinners Shadab, Shoaib Malik (1-17) and Mohammad Hafeez (1-24) rocked the Sri Lankan batting with regular wickets.

Shadab outfoxed the batsmen with his leg-spin to finish with 3-47 as, yet again, the Sri Lanka top order failed to fire as it did in the first game of five, which they lost by 83 runs in Dubai on Friday.

“Our batting collapsed but the way Babar and Shadab batted after that on a difficult pitch was brilliant,” said Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed. “The pitch kept getting slower and slower, so batting wasn’t easy ... if we trust the youngsters, they give us good performances. Further I can’t praise the bowlers enough for defending this 220.”

In the run chase, Tharanga struggled to get partnerships going and survived two early catching chances when Shadab and Babar dropped sitters.

The Sri Lanka captain also successfully overturned a caught behind decision against him on 29, and Pakistan missed an opportunity to have him lbw on 46. Shadab didn’t go for the video review when replays showed the ball would have crashed on to the stumps.

But Sri Lanka always lagged behind despite Tharanga’s chancy stay at the crease. They slipped to 93-7, losing five wickets in seven overs. Shadab, who turned only 19 earlier this month, claimed three of those wickets.

Tharanga added 76 runs with Jeffrey Vandersay (22) but never looked to threaten Pakistan’s total before Vandersay holed out in the deep and the last two batsmen were run out.

“When you’re 90-7, it’s a tough task,” Tharanga said. “It was good to carry the bat, but disappointed with the result.”

Sri Lanka have lost 18 of their 23 ODIs in 2017, including 5-0 defeats against South Africa and India.

Their latest defeat was ninth on the trot.

The third game is also in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday before the series concludes in Sharjah with the remaining two matches.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Fakhar Zaman c Mendis b Gamage 11
Ahmed Shehzad c Siriwardana b Lakmal 8
Babar Azam c Mendis b Gamage 101
Mohammad Hafeez c Dickwella b Gamage 8
Shoaib Malik c Dickwella b Perera 11
Sarfraz Ahmed b Perera 5
Imad Wasim lbw b Vandersay 10
Shadab Khan not out 52
Hasan Ali run out 7
Rumman Raees c Dananjaya b Gamage 0
Junaid Khan not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-3) 6

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 219

FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-27, 3-40, 4-71, 5-79, 6-101, 7-210, 8-218, 9-218.

BOWLING: Lakmal 10-0-42-1 (2w); Gamage 10-0-57-4 (1w); Vandersay 9-0-44-1; Perera 10-0-34-2; Dananjaya 9-0-30-0; Siriwardana 2-0-9-0.

SRI LANKA:

N. Dickwella lbw b Junaid 3
W.U. Tharanga not out 112
B.K.G. Mendis c Shehzad b Hasan 10
H.D.R.L. Thirimanne lbw b Malik 12
L.D. Chandimal b Shadab 2
T.A.M. Siriwardana c Babar b Shadab 3
N.L.T.C. Perera c Babar b Hafeez 7
A. Dananjaya b Shadab 1
J.D.F. Vandersay c Shehzad b Rumman 22
R.A.S. Lakmal run out 1
P.L.S. Gamage run out 3

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-5) 11

TOTAL (all out, 48 overs) 187

FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-30, 3-70, 4-79, 5-83, 6-92, 7-93, 8-169, 9-172.

BOWLING: Junaid Khan 6-0-21-1; Rumman Raees Khan 8-1-37-1; Hasan Ali 10-2-32-1 (2w); Imad Wasim 1-0-3-0; Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-24-1 (2w); Shoaib Malik 4-0-17-1; Shadab Khan 9-0-47-3 (1w).

RESULT: Pakistan won by 32 runs to lead five-match series 2-0.

UMPIRES: Shozab Raza (Pakistan) and R.A. Kettleborough (England).

TV UMPIRE: S. Ravi (India).

MATCH REFEREE: A.J. Pycroft (Zimbabwe).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shadab Khan.

NEXT MATCH: Abu Dhabi (D/N), Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017