COLOMBO, June 18: Angelo Mathews smashed 14 in the final over Monday to lead Sri Lanka to a two-wicket win against Pakistan in the fifth One-day International for a 3-1 victory in the Mobilink Jazz Cup series.
Mathews slammed a straight six off fast bowler Mohammad Sami's second delivery before punching a boundary over point on the fourth ball to seal a memorable win in front of a packed house at R. Premadasa Stadium.
Man-of-the-Match Mathews, who struck four fours and two sixes, top-scored with 80 not out from 76 balls as Sri Lanka reached 248-8 to eclipse Pakistan's 247-7 with two balls to spare.
Dinesh Chandimal scored 54, while Kumar Sangakkara made 40.
Left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir was the pick of Pakistan's bowlers with 3-42.
Earlier, opener Imran Farhat and Umar Akmal cracked half-centuries as Pakistan posted a competitive total.
Imran, playing his first one-dayer in four months, hit an impressive 56 and Umar an unbeaten 55 in the day/night match.
Pakistan batted steadily after losing out-of-form opener Mohammad Hafeez (six), with Azhar Ali (30) and Imran adding 60 for the second wicket and then Akmal putting on 61 for the fifth wicket with skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (32).
Umar smashed two sixes and five fours in a 61-ball knock for his 15th half-century in one-dayers.
Hafeez, who was bowled by paceman Nuwan Kulasekara in the sixth over, has now scored just 20 runs in his last four one-dayers.
Imran dominated the Sri Lankan attack in the initial overs, twice hitting Kulasekara for three fours in an over. Kulasekara conceded 35 runs in his opening six overs before being replaced by off-spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan.
Imran fell pulling seamer Thisara Perera, who was adjudged the Man-of-the-Series, to deep mid-wicket where he was caught by Chandimal after smashing nine fours in his 12th half-century in One-day Internationals.
Leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis, playing his first match of the series, was the most impressive bowler with 2-30 off nine overs while Kulasekarafinished with 2-53 off 10 overs. —Agencies
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:Imran Farhat c Chandimal b Perera 56Mohammad Hafeez b Kulasekara 6Azhar Ali c Thirimanne b Mendis 30Asad Shafiq run out 38Misbah-ul-Haq c Perera b Mendis 32Umar Akmal not out 55Shahid Afridi c Jayawardene b Kulasekara 9Sohail Tanvir c Tharanga b Malinga 11Umar Gul not out 2EXTRAS (B-2, LB-3, W-3) 8TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 247FALL OF WKTS: 1-22, 2-82, 3-113, 4-146, 5-207, 6-229, 7-244.DID NOT BAT: Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Sami.BOWLING: Malinga 10-1-52-1 (1w); Kulasekara 10-1-53-2; Mathews 10-0-41-0; Dilshan 3-0-12-0; Perera 8-0-54-1 (1w); Mendis 9-0-30-2 (1w).SRI LANKA:W.U. Tharanga b Sohail 2T.M. Dilshan b Sohail 10K.C. Sangakkara run out 40L.D. Chandimal c Sami b Hafeez 54D.P.M.D. Jayawardene c and b Afridi 0A.D. Mathews not out 80N.L.T.C. Perera run out 0H.D.R.L. Thirimanne run out 11B.M.A.J. Mendis run out 19K.M.D.N. Kulasekara not out 10EXTRAS (LB-10, W-12) 22TOTAL (for eight wkts, 49.4 overs) 248FALL OF WKTS: 1-18, 2-19, 3-97, 4-97, 5-135, 6-138, 7-175, 8-212.DID NOT BAT: S.L. Malinga.BOWLING: Umar Gul 10-1-43-0; Sohail Tanvir 10-0-42-3 (7w); Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-30-1; Mohammad Sami 9.4-0-75-0 (2w); Shahid Afridi 10-0-48-2 (2w).RESULT: Sri Lanka won by two wickets to win series 3-1.UMPIIRES: R.E.J. Martinesz (Sri Lanka) and P.R. Reiffel (Australia).TV UMPIRE: R.S.A. Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka).MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England).MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Angelo Mathews.MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Thisara Perera.