Pakistan Make a Winning Start in the Tri-Nation Series Beating Sri Lanka on Salman Agha’s Century, Babar Joins the 16,000-Run Club
Pakistan made a winning start by defeating Sri Lanka by 37 runs in the first match of the tri-nation ODI series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Batting first, the hosts collected 305 runs, and in reply, despite a fighting effort, Sri Lanka stopped at 268 runs.
Sri Lanka won the toss and sent Pakistan in to bat. The hosts did not have a good start, however. But after Babar Azam’s innings of 45 runs, Salman Ali Agha took hold of the team, and on his batting Pakistan moved towards a big total.
Salman played a superb innings. He scored 107 runs off 90 balls with 10 fours and one six. This century of his became the lifeblood of Pakistan’s innings and turned a moderate start into a big fund.
Other batters also kept Salman company. Saad Baig scored 39 runs and 37 runs came from Hasan Nawaz’s bat. With their contributions, Pakistan were all out for 305 runs in 49.5 overs.
In this very match, Babar Azam touched a new milestone with the bat. The former captain of Pakistan has completed 16,000 runs across the three formats in international cricket. He achieved this feat as the fifth batter of the country.
Before the match, 32-year-old Babar was only seven runs away from the milestone. He quickly picked up the runs needed. He reached the milestone of 16,000 runs in 399 innings across the three formats, another major achievement of his long international career.
For Sri Lanka, Eshan Malinga was the most successful with the ball. He took four wickets giving away 46 runs. Asitha Fernando captured three wickets. Although their efforts stopped Pakistan’s innings towards the end, by then the fund had crossed three hundred.
Chasing a target of 306 runs, Sri Lanka fell under pressure right at the start. But the team tried to turn around through the batting of Pavan Rathnayake and Janith Liyanage. Rathnayake scored 79 runs and Liyanage scored 60 runs.
44 runs came from Kamindu Mendis’s bat. Although the fight of these three batters kept Sri Lanka in the match, in the end the team could not survive against the controlled attack of Pakistan’s bowlers.
For Pakistan, Shaheen Shah Afridi took three wickets. Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah each captured two wickets. Losing wickets at regular intervals ultimately became the major cause of Sri Lanka’s defeat.
In the end, Sri Lanka’s innings stopped at 268 runs in 48.1 overs. As a result, Pakistan left the field with a 37-run victory.
With this win, Pakistan have made a confident start in the tri-nation series. On the other hand, Sri Lanka had to begin the tournament with a defeat in the very first match, for whom turning around in the coming matches has now become essential.
