Pakistan Lift the Trophy After 168 Lasts 17 Overs

Sri Lanka chased 169 in 17.1 overs at Rawalpindi on October 13, winning by eight wickets after Pakistan had already locked the T20I series 2-1. Kusal Mendis finished 87 not out off 48 balls, and Sahibzada Farhan still left as player of the series with 238 runs.

The hosts posted 168 for 8. The reply was 172 for 2, 17 balls unused. Farhan made 76 off 47 in his first assignment as T20I captain, then walked out with the cup on a night his attack went at 10 an over.

Sri Lanka Chase 169 in 17.1 Overs

Kusal Mendis won a third straight toss and chose to field. Pakistan were already 2-0 up from Friday and Sunday at the same ground, so the XI was a test of the bench as much as a hunt for 3-0. Sri Lanka still had to bat, and for the first time on the trip they did it without panic.

Lahiru Udara went lbw to Mohammad Imran for 1 off 2 balls in the second over, and Sri Lanka declined a review. Replays later showed the impact outside off. Sineth Jayawardena then hit 38 off 26, with five fours and two sixes, in a 59-run stand with his captain. When Jayawardena holed out off Arafat Minhas at 74 for 2, Kamindu Mendis walked in and stayed.

The unbroken third-wicket stand was 98 off 55 balls. Kamindu’s 40 not out off 27, four fours and only four dots, let Kusal play the ball he wanted. The winning four came through extra cover off Razaullah, a short-form night that never looked like 169.

THE THREE-MATCH SERIES

Friday was a chase. Sunday was a blowout. Tuesday was the only night a set Sri Lanka batting group faced a Pakistan attack that had to defend, and 169 lasted 17.1 overs. That is the scoreline both dressing rooms take into 50-over cricket at the same stadium.

102 for 6, Then a Record Stand

Eshan Malinga’s fourth over was a double-wicket maiden. Fakhar Zaman sliced 12 off 7 to short third at 34 for 1. Three balls later Maaz Sadaqat, who had made 50 and 96 in the first two matches, leading-edged a low full toss to mid-off for 0 off 3. Farhan did not slow down. With Hasan Nawaz he struck five boundaries in two overs and the powerplay closed at 57 for 2.

The squeeze started there. Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, in for Maheesh Theekshana, kept a flat 90-100kph line and went 4-0-23-1. Hasan Nawaz’s 16 off 17 ended when Kamindu jumped at long-on. Dasun Shanaka then took the middle in a 5.25 spell: Khawaja Nafay 3, Imran 6, Abdul Samad 15. At 13.4 overs Pakistan were 102 for 6.

Arafat Minhas, on a night he was picked to play, hit 34 not out off 20 with two sixes. The seventh-wicket stand with Farhan was 66 off 37 balls, Pakistan’s highest for that wicket in T20Is, past 50 by Faheem Ashraf and Shadab Khan. They took 48 off overs 17 to 19. Nuwan Thushara still closed it: Farhan top-edged Shanaka at 19.5, and a yorker bowled Razaullah first ball. Pakistan had 168 for 8 at 8.40 an over, close to 170 and nowhere near Sunday’s 215.

Farhan Leaves With 238 and the Series

Farhan batted through almost the entire innings for 76 off 47, seven fours and three sixes, at 161.70. Aside from Arafat, no other Pakistan batter reached 20. The PCB had already said Farhan will captain the T20I series after he led the side at the Asian Games, with Shaheen Afridi keeping the ODI job. He now has a 2-1 series in his first week in the role, and a batting card that still needed him to drag a slide past 140.

FARHAN’S SERIES

• October 9: 89 off 53 as Pakistan chased 183 and won by four wickets.
• October 11: 73 off 44 in a total of 215 for 3, the innings that sealed 2-0.
• October 13: 76 off 47, third straight fifty, player of the series on 238.

After the match he treated the collapse as one data point, not a verdict on the names around him.

We posted excellent targets in the first two matches, but today we lost top-order wickets, so I tried to take the game deep. You can’t determine that someone has failed after just one game.

Sahibzada Farhan, Pakistan captain, post-match presentation

He added that he tries to be consistent. The 238 runs were consistent. The supporting cast was not, and Sadaqat’s 0 after two heavy innings is the line that follows the new captain into selection meetings he will not attend. Farhan is not in Pakistan’s ODI squad for the tri-series. Neither is Sadaqat.

Shanaka’s 3 for 21 Stops the Middle

Sri Lanka’s bowling plan against everyone except Farhan was the piece that had been missing on Friday and Sunday. Shanaka does not bowl express pace, but the changes in length tied Nafay, Imran and Samad to the deep fielders. Three wickets for 21 in four overs is the spell that held Pakistan under 170 on a ground that had just seen 215 and a 183 chase.

Malinga and Thushara took two wickets each for 38. Viyaskanth’s four overs at 5.75 were the hold at the other end. Binura Fernando went for 45 without a wicket, so this was not a full-attack masterclass. It was a middle-overs job, the period Kusal later named first when he spoke, and it turned a Farhan fifty into a total Sri Lanka could hunt at 10 an over.

Gary Kirsten, Sri Lanka’s coach, had called this T20 side an “exploratory phase” before a World Cup that is still two years away. Jayawardena, 21, had a messy fielding night (a wild throw with Arafat new to the crease) and then a 26-ball 38 that was almost all attack. Viyaskanth, the Jaffna legspinner, used his one game to show a holding skill Theekshana’s absence had opened. Those are the names a 2-1 loss still lets Sri Lanka keep.

What Kusal Mendis Changed After 1 and 9

Kusal had made 1 and 9 in the first two matches. Sri Lanka’s batting followed him both times. On Tuesday he started quietly while Jayawardena swung, then found a strike rate of 181.25. The fifty came off 33 balls. He finished with nine fours and four sixes, the highest score of a 112-match T20I career, and 2,791 T20I runs, seven past Pathum Nissanka’s 2,784. Nissanka is not on this white-ball leg.

The same day Sri Lanka Cricket named Kusal Mendis as Test captain in a 15-man group for the two Tests that start in Rawalpindi on November 9, with Nissanka’s travel still tied to fitness. The T20 night was the first time on this trip the captain looked like that brief.

We bowled really well today in the middle period. The fielding was better too, and the batting was excellent. Kamindu batted really well after the Powerplay. He played his natural game, and I did too. We did really well in all three departments.

Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka captain, post-match presentation

He is right about the middle period. He is also the reason 169 never became a chase that asked a question after the eighth over. Pakistan’s seamers had no death to bowl at. The required rate fell because Kusal and Kamindu took 18 off one Razaullah over and kept Salman Mirza at 13.33 from three.

Four Changes and 10 Runs an Over

Pakistan rang four changes with the series won. The new ball and the middle overs were a different attack from Sunday, when Imran had taken 3 for 11 and Sri Lanka crawled to 133 for 7.

THE FOUR CHANGES

• Razaullah: In for Naseem Shah, then 3.1 overs for 37 as Kusal finished through cover.
• Arafat Minhas: In for Shadab Khan, 34 not out and 1 for 26, the one change who paid in both skills.
• Sufyan Moqim: In for Abrar Ahmed, four overs for 35 and no wicket.
• Abdul Samad: In for Saim Ayub, 15 off 10, Shanaka’s third wicket at 102 for 6.

Sri Lanka made one swap, Viyaskanth for Theekshana. Pakistan’s five bowlers in the chase then went like this.

PAKISTAN’S BOWLING AT 10.01

Imran, the only seamer who held a line, was also the man who trapped Udara. Everyone else served a hittable length on a night with dew in the air and a captain who had already seen 1 and 9 from Kusal. A rotated attack is a fair experiment in a dead rubber. It is a poor tape to hand England if the lesson is that 168 is a defendable total in Rawalpindi. Sri Lanka’s only fluent batting night of the trip arrived after the series had gone, which is why 2-1 can travel lighter than these figures.

The Same Rawalpindi Pitch Hosts England Next

The white-ball window does not pause. The PCB’s schedule puts an ODI tri-series from 18 to 31 October across Rawalpindi and Lahore, three former world champions in a seven-match event that starts with Pakistan against Sri Lanka at this ground. Shaheen Afridi captains that side. Babar Azam is in it. Farhan is not. Arafat, who has just made 34 not out and taken a wicket on this square, is.

Harry Brook leads England’s 16-player ODI squad, with Adil Rashid back from a hand injury and Sam Curran back from a groin problem. Jofra Archer is rested. Jos Buttler is out with the hamstring he hurt against Sri Lanka. National selector Marcus North called the trip a test against quality sides in different conditions. The condition they will get on October 20 is the one that just turned 169 into a canter.

THE WHITE-BALL WINDOW

1. October 18: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, first ODI of the tri-series.
2. October 20: Pakistan vs England, same ground, England’s first match of the tour.
3. October 22: Sri Lanka vs England, Rawalpindi, before the event moves to Lahore.
4. October 25 to 31: three more league games and the final at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Farhan’s 238 runs and the 2-1 cup are the T20 record of this week. The match England will study is the one in which Pakistan were 102 for 6, Shanaka bowled his 3 for 21, and Kusal’s 87 not out made 169 look small. That game is also the last time this group of T20 names share a dressing room before Shaheen’s ODI side walks onto the same grass on October 18.