What seemed like a walk in the park at one stage turned into an ungainly scramble to the finish line as Pakistan had to fight hard for a five-wicket win in their Asia Cup Super Four clash against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan had insisted that they had put up a better performance than the scorecard suggested in the loss to India in their opening Super Four match.
One day later, they put in a stellar effort with the ball to restrict Sri Lanka to 133-8.
In reply, Pakistan were in trouble at 57-4 and 80-5. But all-rounder Hussain Talat hit an unbeaten 32 from 30 to steady the ship and take the team home.
Mohammad Nawaz (38) ended the contest with two overs to spare as he hit fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera for three sixes.
The pitch at the Zayed Cricket Stadium is deemed the better of the two venues in the tournament. It was probably this pressure to score above par that saw Sri Lanka fall to some innocuous shots in the powerplay. Kusal Mendis chipped Shaheen Afridi (3-28) to mid-wicket first ball, which was a sign of things to come.
Pathum Nissanka’s wild slog to the keeper off Shaheen and surprise package Talat’s burst of two wickets off successive balls – including that of the dangerous Dasun Shanaka first ball – robbed the Sri Lankan innings of any momentum throughout the 20 overs.
Kamindu Mendis held his end together but there was precious little from the other end. His knock of 50 from 44 balls added a degree of respectability to the innings.
But there was too much firepower in Pakistan’s bowling. Haris Rauf continued to bowl rockets – a continuation of his fiery spell against India in Dubai.
The pick of the bowlers, however, was left-arm pacer Afridi. He saved the best delivery of the match for the best batter of the Sri Lankan innings – trapping Mendis lbw with a stunning yorker that tailed into his toe to trap him in front in the penultimate over.
Spinner Abrar Ahmed was sensational as well, giving away just eight runs in his four overs.
Had the top-scorer survived, Sri Lanka would have crossed 140 on a sluggish surface.
While the total of 133-8 was below par, it was decent enough to warrant a proper effort from Pakistan.
Fakhar Zaman gave an early scare to his team as he took a fast bouncer from Chameera straight on the side of his helmet. The game was held up for more than five minutes as the physio checked for signs of concussion.
Although Fakhar looked far from comfortable, he soldiered on.
His fellow opener Sahibzada Farhan gave him ample time to recover from the blow as he took on pacer Nuwan Thushara for two sixes and a boundary the very next over.
A stunning over from spinner Maheesh Theekshana changed the complexion of the match. He got both openers caught down the ground; Fakhar was spectacularly caught at mid-off by Wanindu Hasaranga.
That was just the spark that Sri Lanka needed. Hasaranga, whose celebration style was earlier parodied by Abrar, rattled the stumps of Saim Ayub and then trapped captain Salman Agha lbw to have Pakistan 57-4.
They were in almost the exact position as Sri Lanka were in their innings. It was up to all-rounder Talat once again to carry the workload.
After pacer Chameera rattled the stumps of Mohammad Haris, Talat put his head down to take his team to safety.
Pakistan are now second in the points table and will fancy their chances of making it to the final, where they could face India again.
Sri Lanka lost their second match of the stage to all but end their hopes of making it to Sunday's title match.
