Asia Cup 2022: Hasaranga Gives Sri Lanka An Upper Hand Over Pakistan In The First Inning

Cricket Image for Asia Cup 2022: Hasaranga Gives Sri Lanka An Upper Hand Over Pakistan In The First (Image Source: Google)

Spinners Wanindu Hasaranga (3/21) and Maheesh Theekshana's (2/21) impressive bowling performance helped Sri Lanka bowl out Pakistan to 121 in a Super Four match of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, here on Friday.

Apart from Hasaranga and Theekshana, Pramod Madushan (2/21), Chamika Karunaratne (1/4) and Dhananjaya de Silva (1/18) also bowled with discipline and did a decent job for Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Babar Azam (30 off 29) and Mohammad Nawaz (26 off 18) were the top-scorers for Pakistan.

Put into bat first, Pakistan lost the wicket of inform Mohammad Rizwan (14) in the fourth over. Rizwan looked to slog the ball from well outside off but he top-edged and Kusal Mendis took an easy catch.

Thereafter, Fakhar Zaman and skipper Babar Azam batted too cautiously and took Pakistan to 49/1 after 6 overs. Even after the powerplay, Pakistan continued their conservative approach as none of the batters were willing to take risks.

The pressure was building and Fakhar decided to break the shackles but Chamika Karunaratne dismissed him courtesy a brilliant catch by Wanindu Hasaranga at the boundary line. In the very next over, Hasaranga cleaned up Babar, who walked down the wicket and looked to hit the ball over the fence but miscued it completely, leaving Pakistan in a spot of bother at 68/3 after 10.4 overs.

The spinners especially continued the good work, putting a lid on the scoring rate, which brought success for Sri Lanka. Pakistan lost the wickets of Khushdil Shah (4), Iftikhar Ahmed (13), Asif Ali (0), Hasan Ali in quick succession, getting in deep deep trouble at 95/7 after 15.6 overs.

It was Mohammad Nawaz, who hit few boundaries and six to give some late flourish to his team innings before getting run-out in the penultimate over. Eventually, Pakistan were bowled out for 121-10 in 19.1 overs.

Brief scores: Pakistan 121 all out in 19.1 Overs (Babar Azam 30, Mohammad Nawaz 26; Wanindu Hasaranga 3/21, Maheesh Theekshana 2/21) vs Sri Lanka