SHARJAH, April 12: Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka by 9 runs, their second defeat within a span of four days in the game four of the Sharjah Cup one-day cricket tournament here on Sunday.

Batting first, Sri Lanka scored 239 for 6 in 50 overs. Asked to score at 4.8 runs per over, Pakistan floundered first in the middle of the innings and when Wasim Akram in the last five had corrected equation they lost their way again.

Sri Lanka are now strongly placed to play in the final on April 17, with two wins from three matches. They have 4 points and the best net run rate. Pakistan and New Zealand have won one match each with two points.

Pakistan’s chances for the final depend on their last match of the tournament — against New Zealand on April 15.

Following the tradition, Sanath Jayasuriya decided to bat first after winning the toss but made disastrous start, losing first four wickets for just 41 runs. But veteran Marwan Atapattu and Russel Arnold batted sensibly to stabilise the innings.

The two added 91 runs. But the pick of the Lanka batting was Upal Chandana who showed extreme patience to help his team reach 239 for 5, a total if not impossible, was difficult for the Pakistan, keeping in mind their first match performance against Sri Lanka when they had failed to chase 242 and lost by 41 runs.

Wasim Akram and Waqar Younus picked two wickets each while Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi got one each.

Pakistan’s run-chase met a setback in the second over when Muttiah Muralitharan took a brilliant catch to dismiss Afridi for a duck off Nuwan Zoysa. From then on the Pakistanis totally lost their way as the asking rate continued to rise reaching over 7 per over on or about the 40th over. What is baffling is that with nine batsmen sitting in dressing room Imran Nazir and Yousuf Youhana, who had replaced Afridi, failed to lift the run rate.

After these two were dismissed, Inzamamul Haq and Younis Khan never really went for the kill. Inzamam’s innings were most disappointing for the simple reason that there were still 7 wickets and sufficient overs to play positive stroke.

He was really not in his true colours and must share the responsibility for today’s defeat with Younis Khan and Rashid Latif, who was promoted in the batting order ahead of Abdul Razzak. That decision itself was not a good one as it was proved by the way Rashid opted to tackle Muralitharan and Chandana.

All in all, it was one of the most insipid batting displays seen here in the Sharjah Cup. It was far from cautious batting as Pakistan ended up 9 runs short but still had 5 wickets to spare.

This match was a landmark for English umpire David Shepered who today supervised his 100th.

S.Jayasuriya b Waqar 23

R.Kaluwitharana c Rashid b Waqar 7

K.Sangakkara c Rashid b Wasim 5

M.Jayawardene c Rashid b Wasim 1

M.Atapattu not out 77

R.Arnold c Imran Nazir b Afridi 41

U.Chandana b Shoaib 64

EXTRAS (b-1 lb-6 w-4 nb-10) 21

TOTAL (for six wickets, 50 overs) 239

DID NOT BAT: C. Vaas, M. Muralitharan, N. Zoysa, C. Buddhika.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-32 2-40 3-40 4-41 5-132 6-239

BOWLING: Wasim Akram 10-3-30-2, Waqar Younis 9-0-49-2, Shoaib Akhtar 9-1-51-1, Abdur Razzaq 6-0-34-0, Saqlain Mushtaq 10-0-40-0, Shahid Afridi 6-0-28-1.

Imran Nazir run out (Chandana) 34

Shahid Afridi c Muralitharan b Zoysa 0

Yousuf Youhana lbw b Fernando 38

Inzamam-ul-Haq c & b Chandana 37

Younis Khan run out (sub Dilshan) 45

Wasim Akram not out 36

Rashid Latif not out 11

EXTRAS (lb 13, w 8, nb 8) 29

TOTAL (5 wickets, 50 overs) 230

DID NOT BAT: Abdur Razzaq, *Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-72, 3-87, 4-172, 5-185.

BOWLING: Vaas 9-1-25-0; Zoysa 8-1-30-1; Fernando 10-0-38-1; Muralitharan 10-0-29-0; Chandana 6-1-42-1; Jayasuriya 7-0-53-0.

RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 9 runs.