Pakistan in easy 146 run win

Chris Dhambarage

A maiden one hundred from young Umar Akmal and a career best bowling performance by Rao Ifthikar Anjum guided Pakistan to an easy 146 run victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth one day international worked off under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday.

Pakistan came out with their best effort in the series to pile up a massive 321 for 5 from their 50 overs having elected to bat first and then dismissed the home side for just 175 runs in the 37th over.

Sri Lanka of course made a promising start to their run chase through their new opening combination of Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardena. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara also kept their hopes alive with a 33 ball 39 before a dramatic middle order collapse put an end to their run chase.

Sri Lanka completely lost their way in the middle of the innings and eventually lost their last six wickets for the addition of just 18 runs from 6.1 overs. Rao Ifthikar Anjum was the chief wrecker as he ripped through the Sri Lankan batting line up while claiming his first five wicket haul.

Among his victims were the top scorer Upul Tharanga who was sixth out for a brave 80 runs that included one six and eight boundaries.

Earlier nineteen year old Umar Akmal playing only in his third one dayer hammered a blistering 102 from just 72 deliveries after Pakistan had collapsed to 130 for 4 by the 26th over. However Akmal and Younis Khan steadied the innings with a record fifth wicket stand of 176 runs from 23.1 overs.

Umar Akmal played the dominant role in this stand as he treated the Sri Lankan bowlers with little respect while hoisting four sixes and stroking five boundaries during his unbeaten knock of 102.

The pair bettered the previous record of 155 runs set by the pair of Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan back in 2002 at Sharjah. Umar Akmal reached the three figure mark in a spectacular manner while making good use of some lethargic fielding from the home side. In fact this was one of the worse performances from the Sri Lankan bowling side where they conceded a total of 33 extras that included as many as 29 wides. Lasith Malinga was responsible for this with 26 wides to his name while Thilan Thushara Mirando conceded three wides.

The Pakistan openers laid the foundation for a match winning total with wicket keeper batsman Kamran Akmal leading the way. The 27 year old right hander struck a fluent 57 from 64 deliveries with the help of seven boundaries.

His partner Imran Nazir returning back to the Pakistan team after a long lay off struck four boundaries before departing in the tenth over of the innings. Even then they were made to work hard against an accurate new-ball pair on a slow track.

In fact there were only two boundaries in the first six overs of the innings with the majority of runs coming through inside-edges and miscues. Skipper Younis Khan came in to the middle at a vital stage of the innings and repaired the damage with a solid 89 before departing in the penultimate over of the innings.

The 31 year old right hander rose to the occasion while contributing 89 from 111 deliveries inclusive of four boundaries. Sri Lanka made three changes with speedster Lasith Malinga, leg spinner Malinga Bandara and mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis coming in place of Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan and Nuwan Kulasekera. Pakistan of course made as many as four changes with Mohammed Yousuf, Misbah Ul Haq, Rao Ifthikar and Imran coming in place of Nazir Jamshed, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam and Abdul Razzaq.

PAKISTAN
Kamran Akmal b Bandara 			 57
Imran Nazir b Thushara			 23
Younus Khan c Kapugedera b Thushara	 89
Mohammad Yousuf c Jayawardene b Mendis	  6
Misbah-ul Haq lbw b Bandara		  9
Umar Akmal not out			102
Shahid Afridi not out			  2
Extras: (b4, w29)			 33
Total (for 5 wkts, 50 overs)		321
Did not bat: Rana Naved, Mohammad Aamer, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal.
Fall of wickets: 1-61 (Nazir), 2-106 (Kamran Akmal), 3-115 (Yousuf), 
4-130 (Misbah), 5-306 (Younus).
Bowling: Malinga 10-0-79-0 (w22), Thushara 10-0-74-2 (w7), Mathews 8-0-48-0, 
Bandara 10-0-44-2, Mendis 10-0-56-1, Kandamby 2-0-16-0.

SRI LANKA
U. Tharanga c Kamran b Iftikhar 	80
M. Jayawardene c Aamer b Naved		19
K. Sangakkara c Nazir b Iftikhar	39
T. Kandamby c Younus b Ajmal 		15
C. Kapugedera c Naved b Ajmal		 8
T. Samaraweera c Kamran b Iftikhar	 2
A. Mathews st Kamran b Afrid		 8
M. Bandara c Misbah b Afridi 		 0
T. Thushara b Iftikhar 			 0
L. Malinga c Misbah b Iftikhar		 0
A. Mendis not out 			 0
Extras: (lb1, w3)			 4
Total(all out, 36.1 overs)		175
Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Jayawardene), 2-101 (Sangakkara), 3-130 (Kandamby),
4-157 (Kapugedera), 5-159 (Samaraweera), 6-166 (Tharanga), 
7-167 (Bandara), 8-171 (Thushara), 9-175 (Mathews), 10-175 (Malinga).
Bowling: Aamer 5-0-34-0 (w1), Naved 7-0-46-1, Iftikhar 8.1-0-30-5, 
Afridi 9-0-40-2 (w1), Ajmal 7-0-24-2 (w1).