Paks snatch last-over thriller to complete clean sweep

• Sri Lanka vs Pakistan – Second and Final T20

Captain Shahid Afridi’s 45 from 22 balls and Anwar Ali’s 46 from just 17, lifted Pakistan to thrilling one-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second and final T20 game at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Saturday.

The win gave them a 2-0 win over the hosts and a clean sweep of all three formats on their tour of the island which ended on Saturday. The tourists had already secured the tests series 2-1 and the ODI series 3-2.

The young Sri Lankan team had appeared to be coasting to victory after posting a challenging 172 for 7 and then having Pakistan on the ropes at 40 for 5.

Imwad Wasim blasted a six to complete the slender one-wicket triumph, with just four balls to spare, as Pakistan completed their Sri Lanka tour in style.

Wasim’s unbeaten 24 saw Pakistan home in Colombo, securing his side a 2-0 win in the short-format series.

Anwar Ali top-scored with 46 from just 17 balls, but it was Afridi’s knock that steadied Pakistan nerves after a twitchy start to their run-chase.

Pakistan slumped to 40 for five in reply, raising fears the visitors would be unable to turn the final tour clash into anything resembling a contest.

But just when the tourists started to doubt their abilities to seal the mini-series, up popped Afridi with the pivotal knock.

Afridi blasted four sixes and one four before he was clean bowled by Jayasuriya, but by that stage he had done enough to turn the tide.

Buoyed by the reversal of fortunes, Ali and Wasim followed their captain’s lead, getting Pakistan over the line, much to Sri Lanka’s frustrations.

Earlier a late blitz by their young batsmen lifted Sri Lanka to a challenging 172 for 7 and given themselves a good chance to level the two-game series and restore some of its lost pride.

Shehan Jayasuriya’s 40 from 32 balls set Sri Lanka en route to a solid total of 172 for seven from their 20 overs.

Chamara Kapugedera plundered an unbeaten 48 at the death to boost his side’s total, after captain Lasith Malinga had elected to bat in Colombo.

After winning the toss, the hosts elected to bat first in a game they needed to win to ensure that Pakistan did not register a clean sweep by winning all three formats on their tour of Sri Lanka.

Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka has being easily their most successful tour in recent history. Sri Lanka have always been formidable opponents at home but they have been rolled over by a buoyant Pakistani side which seems to be enjoying its cricket.

After taking the three-match test series 2-1 and inflicting a rare series defeat on their hosts the visitors then went one better and took a winning 3-1 lead in the five-match ODI series. The hosts brought some respectability to the result by winning the last game emphatically to narrow the result to 3-2 and raised some hope that they would be back to form in the T20 format where they are still the number one ranked team in the world.

However, the Pakistanis had other ideas and inflicted a crushing defeat on their hosts in the first T20 on Thursday and set themselves up for a clean sweep across all three formats which would truly be the icing on the cake.

The hosts suffered a big blow when Angelo Mathews was ruled out of the match after hurting his wrist at training. Uncapped 23-year-old allrounder Dasun Shanaka  was drafted into the side at the last minute. Another uncapped 23-year-old, Shehan Jayasuriya, replaced batsman Kithuruwan Vithanage in the other change from the first game.

As Sri Lanka had already fielded four debutants on Thursday, these changes meant that six players in the Sri Lanka XI have played two T20 internationals or fewer.

Scores:

Sri Lanka 172 for 7 in 20 overs (Chamara Kapugedera 48*, Shehan Jayasuriya 40, Milinda Siriwardena 23)

Pakistan 174 for 9 in 19.2 overs (Anwar Ali 46, Shahid Afridi 45)