Angelo Mathews degraded Pakistan as Sri Lanka won the final ODI

Angelo Mathews degraded Pakistan as Sri Lanka won the final ODI

Sri Lanka 248-8 (Angelo Mathews 80*, Dinesh Chandimal 54, Sohail Tanvir 3-42) beat Pakistan 247-7(Imran Farhat 56, Umar Akmal 55*, Jeevan Mendis 2-30) by 2 wickets.

Angelo Mathews punished the Pakistani bowlers and ensured victory for Sri Lanka in the fifth and final ODI as the home side clinched the series 3-1.

The Green Shirts scored 247 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the allotted 50 overs and the Lankan Lions achieved the target by smashing 248 with two wickets in hand in 49.4 overs.

Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his superb batting in the match.

The match was played on Monday, June 18, 2012 at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo and the home crowd was overjoyed with the performance of their national team.

Earlier, Misbah-Ul-Haq, the captain of Pakistan, won the toss and elected to bat first on a good looking wicket. Their openers, Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez started the innings in a timid manner and scored just 10 runs in the first four overs. The first opened up in the fifth over by gathering 9 runs with the assistance of two fours as the dismal performance of Mohammad Hafeez continued and he was clean bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara for six runs.

The in form batsman Azhar Ali, joined in with Imran Farhat who continued with the attack and added three fours in the eighth over and got the same result in the 12^th over. Imran attained his fifty in the 16^th over as Azhar gave him a nice support at the other end and they accumulated 60 runs for the second wicket. The second wicket fell at 82 when Imran Farhat was gone for 56 off 63 balls with 9 fours as Asad Shafiq entered in the center.

The first hundred of the innings was achieved in the 22^nd over and Azhar Ali lost his wicket for 30 on the first ball of the 26^th over. The wicket fell at 113 runs as Misbah-Ul-Haq took guards and the score board started moving briskly and the score was taken to 146 when Asad Shafiq was unluckily run out for 38 runs. Umar Akmal came in next, changed the complexion of the game by sending the balls out of the fence frequently and collected 61 runs for the fifth wicket as Misbah became the fifth victim after scoring 32 runs.

Umar Akmal was unable to utilize the last few overs and managed just 9 runs off the last 19 balls he faced. He remained unbeaten for 55 off 61 deliveries as the Green Shirts reached at 247 runs with three wickets in hand at the end of the 50^th over.

Nuwan Kulasekara and Jeevan Mendis held two wickets each whereas Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera claimed one wicket each.

Sri Lanka initiated the chase in a dismal way by losing their openers for just 19 runs as Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan were clean bowled by Sohail Tanvir. The experienced Kumar Sangakkara and the young Dinesh Chandimal stabilized the innings for the home side as the sloppy fielding of the visitors assisted the batsmen with a couple of run out chances.

The duo shared 78 runs association for the third wicket when Sangakkara was stumped by the wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed off Shahid Afridi for 40 and Mahela Jayawardene was caught and bowled by Afridi on the very next ball. Sri Lanka was creeping at 97-4 in 25 overs as Angelo Mathews appeared on the scene and the Pakistani bowlers gave away just seven runs in the next four overs.

Chandimal was dropped by Azhar Ali off Umar Gul for 34 runs on the third ball of the 30^th over. He applied the chance and scored his fifty in the 33^rd over and lost his wicket for 54 off 74 balls with 4 fours. The Islanders were reeling at 138-6 in 34.2 overs when Mathews took charge of the situation with little assistance from the other end. The run rate was picked by the home side, Mathews attained his fifty and 200 of the innings were posted on board in the 45^th over with a couple of fours from Jeevan Mendis.

Sri Lanka required 31 from the last 18 balls that was reduced to 15 in the last over which was bowled by Mohammad Sami. The target was achieved on the fourth ball with one six and even four from the blade of Mathews. The Lankan Lions plundered 248 runs after losing 8 wickets and two balls to spare as Angelo remained unbeaten with a heroic knock of 80 from 76 deliveries comprising 2 sixes and 4 fours.

Sohail Tanvir was the highest wicket taker with three, Shahid Afridi got two and Mohammad Hafeez chipped in with one wicket.

Sri Lanka won the thrilling encounter by two wickets and grabbed the five match series 3-1.