Boom Boom Outstanding Performance Lift Pakistan....!
Pakistan 122/6 (20/20 ov)
Sri Lanka 99/10 (19.2/20 ov)
Pakistan win by 23 runs. Shahid Afridi outstanding today scored fifty first then took 2 wickets and at the end he took fine catch at long off boundary. Sami and yasir arfat took 3 wickets each . one for ajmal and tanveer each. Pakistan Level T20 series 1-1.
Shahid Afridi rescued a limp Pakistan innings from despair and built his team a middling total with an aggressive half-century that was pragmatically constructed. He then proceeded to tenaciously defend his hardwork, and by the time he was through with his spell, Sri Lanka had severely depleted resources to complete an arduous task. The upshot was that Pakistan left Hambantota with the series level at 1-1, and Afridi with his seventh Player-of-the-Match award, a Twenty20 record.
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20 overs Pakistan 122 for 6 (Afridi 52*, Kulasekara 2-13) v Sri Lanka
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Pakistan's innings was a non-starter until half of it was over, with the Sri Lankan bowlers - both pace and spin - providing meagre opportunities to score while running through the top order. Only after the seasoned hands of Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik came together did Pakistan begin to go anywhere, but there was too much damage to control and too much time lost. They did not get very far.
Sri Lanka will be satisfied with their performance in the field - a couple of dropped catches apart - considering they rested their captain Mahela Jayawardene and ace Twenty20 bowler Lasith Malinga. They were led by Angelo Mathews, who became his country's second-youngest captain, after Arjuna Ranatunga.
Nuwan Kulasekara set the tone that would remain for most of the innings, pinning the batsmen to their crease with his sharp inswing of a good length. His first ball cut Mohammad Hafeez in half, leaving the Pakistan captain relieved at escaping his fourth consecutive T20 duck. He remained scoreless for five deliveries, before cover driving Mathews to the boundary.
Ahmed Shehzad did not survive Kulasekara's inswingers and was trapped lbw after playing down the wrong line. Khalid Latif did not survive Hafeez's straight drive; he was backing up too far when the ball hit the stumps, having grazed Thisara Perera's fingertips on the way.
None of the Sri Lankan bowlers gave Pakistan any elbowroom. Isuru Udana, the slower-ball specialist who replaced Malinga and was playing his first game since June 2009, began with a maiden to Umar Akmal. Pakistan were 18 for 2 after six overs.
The legspinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi struck with his first ball, hitting Akmal on the pad with one that dipped and went straight on after the batsman missed the sweep. He also struck in his second over to end Hafeez's stay. That ball kept low and Hafeez ended up chipping to midwicket. Pakistan were 41 for 4 in 10.1 overs.
Malik and Afridi began to salvage the innings through singles, and when Afridi showed intent by driving the offspinner Sachithra Senanayake to the cover boundary, Malik began to play second fiddle. That did not stop him from taking three consecutive fours off Lokuarachchi, though.
Afridi shifted through his gears, whipping Perera to the cow corner boundary, a stroke that had a dash of MS Dhoni's helicopter in it, and lofting inside out to cover. After he was dropped on 42 by Dilshan, Afridi hit the innings' first six in the 19th over - a towering hit off Perera back over his head. He got to his 50 off 30 balls.
Kulasekara, however, had the final word, ending the innings like he started it, with an excellent five-run over that included Yasir Arafat's wicket.
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