Pakistan 118 for 4 (Babar 37*, Ayub 36, Rathnayake 2-11) beat Sri Lanka 114 (Mishara 59, Nawaz 3-17, Shaheen 3-18, Abrar 2-18) by six wickets
How do you go from a 64-run second-wicket partnership to 114 all out? Let Sri Lanka show you how.
To give you an idea of how quickly wickets were falling, Sri Lanka had seven consecutive partnerships worth six runs or fewer.
A score of 37 not out off 34 isn’t exactly stellar T20I material, but in the context of having to guide the team to a low target, Babar’s innings was sensibly-paced. It may not deter his critics exactly, but it might hold them off.
In a stretch in which Babar has been suggesting that the best version of himself might be back, it was also significant that he had such a good outing in the field in this match. The catch to dismiss Mendis was a nicely-judged overhead take, balancing to keep himself inside the boundary. The catch to dismiss Mishara was taken on the run, coming in from the straight boundary, diving forward. To get Pavan Rathnayake, he leapt up inside the circle to hold the catch with outstretched fingers.
Mishara sets a foundation
Although Sri Lanka would fail spectacularly to build on it, their young opener Mishara had set a launching pad with his 59 off 47 balls. He had a powerful aerial game inside the powerplay, his three sixes in that phase coming in the arc between long off and deep midwicket. After the field went back, he settled into a rhythm of singles. With this being his second successive half-century, Sri Lanka are likely to persist with him.
