Mother nature, sadly has played a part in Sri Lanka in recent times , and today at Dambulla it was no exception , except the fact that the organisers with the aid of the efficiency of the ground staff managed to get a 12 over contest with 3.4 overs as power play overs, and 3 overs being the maximum allocation per bowler
Sri Lanka made a wise move by selecting Matheesha Pathirana and Eshan Malinga in the playing eleven .
Sri Lanka were put into bat in wet conditions, but the Pakistani bowlers had to cope with the wet ball due to ground conditions, so ëdid the Sri Lankan bowlers , however it was a great effort by Sri Lanka to not only win the game by 14 runs , but square the series, and further taste a home win against Pakistan after a long period of time
The batter who changed the complection of the game for Sri Lanka was Dasun Shanaka when he thumped 5 massive sixes, scored 34 valuable runs in just 9 deliveries, to help his team to set a challenging score of 160 runs in 12 overs , with the top order , barring, Pathum Nissanka whilst the rest supported the batting battle Sri Lanka has been facing especially against quality spin in recent times..
Pathum Nissanka was out without scoring giving the visitors an early break through, but Kamil Misra 20 runs in 8 deliveries,set the stage upfront, with Kusal Mendis making 30 off 16 balls after being dropped in the deep whilst battling on just 9 runs , but credit to him, he took advantage of the Pakistani catching error and stayed focused, whichbhelped ,Dhananjaya de Silva to score 22 , Charith Asalanka’ 21 , and Charith Liyanage to stay unbeaten on 22.
Pakistan seam bowlers conceeded 114 runs , whilst the spinners were economical leaking only 46 runs , which proves , that dispite the spinners having a disadvantage of griping the ball , due to the wet seam , they controlled Sri Lanka”s weakness in the middle overs ,in negotiating spin , hence the new Indian batting coach must address this issue before the world cup. It must be stated Mohd Wasim Junior Pakistan’s seamer despite his 3 wickets out of the ,6 wickets Pakistan scalped was expensive leaking 54 runs.
Dasun Shanaka was exceptional with the bat today , but let’s not sing his praises too early because he will be tested of his skill level , as a captain, because he must prove that his appointment as captain for the second time is not due to his personality , but his capability, period
Pakistan had an early set back losing power hitter Ahamad Farhan for 7 runs bowled by Eshan Malinga in the very first over , but take note Malinga leaked 22 runs in the process in the same over
Skipper Saman Ali Agar batting at number 3 nearly took the game away from Sri Lanka with his 45 in 12 deliveries with 5 boundaries and 3 sixes , meanwhile Pakistan recorded a much better run rate than Sri Lanka in the power play overs , but Matheesha Pathirana, had him brilliantly caught by , Eshan Malinga at short fine leg , which was the turning point.
Sri Lanka”s ground fielding and catching was exceptional, Dhananjaya de Silva saved a ball from going over the ropes for 6 runs, hence the 5 runs he saved made a big difference in Pakistan closing their run chase of 161 for victory to 146 for 8 wickets, because that difference of 5 runs saved , had its toll on Pakistan
Hasaranga was exceptional 4 for 35 that not only won him the player of the match but also contributed to his award as player of the series, whilst Matheesha Pathirana, proved why IPL. Franchise holders invested so much money on his purchase, because he was exceptional in the death overs
He took 2 for 34 , bowling with a wet seam as seamers got cartered , but we noticed his ball control when delivering looks better now
Finally Sri Lankan Fielding was out of the box , simply outstanding, catching was far beyond compare
They now face the English challenge and of course the multi nations tournament next month