August 3, 2009
Sri Lanka wins match & series
The first half of the day belonged to Pakistani Akmal Brothers but it was Sri Lanka who came out victorious in the end, giving them a first home ODI serious victory against Pakistan. Even though Pakistan posted a challenging score of 289 but the openers Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga made it look like child’s play. The opening stand of 202 for the first wicket made sure that Sri Lanka easily defeated the visitors to take the series 3-0. Jayawardene had not scored a single 50 against Pakistan in last ten innings but today performance of 123 of only 108 balls made sure that he removed all the doubts that critics had on his batting ability. Upul Tharanga played an important role in the Lankan innings by providing support to an aggressive Jayawardene after reaching his 50.
Contributions to the Pakistani score of 289 came from Akmal Brothers, Kamran scoring 45 and Umar scoring 66. Younis Khan contributed with 44 and Afridi with a quickfire 32 or 18 balls. For Lanka, Mathews bowled superb taking two wickets with a low economy rate of 4.10 runs per over, Murli even though took two wickets but was a bit expensive giving 6.4 runs per over.
During the Lankan Batting Pakistan managed to take four wickets but it was two late in the match as the openers have provided the rite platform for an easy victory.
It has been amazing for Sangakkara since he took captaincy and now has won both his opening series in the test and ODI format of the game. He scored the winning runs to sail Sri Lanka to a serious victory. Jayawardene was declared the Man of the Match for his impressive batting performance.
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Filed Under: Cricket
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