Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka comfortably by seven wickets with 27 balls to spare in the third match of the ongoing T20I tri-series. Mohammad Nawaz and Sahibzada Farhan were the standout performers for the Men in Green.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Pakistan’s bowlers were disciplined and kept tight pressure on the Lankan batters throughout the innings. All Pakistani bowlers finished with an economy rate under eight.
Nawaz was brilliant as he struck twice in consecutive balls in the 12th over and ended his spell with figures of 3/16 at an economy rate of 4.00. Sri Lanka’s innings never took off as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They eventually finished at 128/7 in 20 overs. Janith Liyanage scored an unbeaten 41, while Kusal Perera added 25.
Chasing a modest target of 129, Pakistan had a strong start as Farhan and Saim Ayub added 47 off 30 balls for the first wicket. Farhan then stitched a 69-run stand off 52 balls with Babar Azam, which almost sealed the win for Pakistan.
Farhan was superb with his 80 off 45 balls, hitting six fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 177.78. For Sri Lanka, Dushmantha Chameera took two wickets while Dasun Shanaka claimed one. Nawaz was named Player of the Match.
With this victory, Pakistan have now won both of their games and sit at the top of the table with four points and a net run rate of +1.221.
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