Match No.8
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka
Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad
10th October 2023; 14.00 Hrs. IST
Sri Lanka, after winning the toss, decided to bat first and will try to make a good total, to enable them to post their first win in the on-going ICC World Cup tournament in 2023. On the other hand, Pakistan will try to capitalise on their previous win with another to remain in top position of the table.
The start for Sri Lanka was not good and most other matches in this tournament; the first player to go on DUCK was Kusal Perera, when the total for Sri Lanka was only 5 runs.
Sri Lanka came out of this bad situation with a century partnership between Pathum Nissanka (51 off 61) and Kusal Mendis. After that, there was another century partnership between Kusal Mendis (122 off 77 balls) and Sadeera Samarawikrama (108 off 89 balls). Both the batsmen played very well and gave pace to the scoring rate. Due to those brilliant innings, Sri Lanka made a huge total of 344/9 in 50 overs and it looked a good score to defend. The most successful bowler for Pakistan was Hasan Ali, 4/71.
Pakistan came to chase a total of 344 put on by Sri Lanka, to post their 2nd consecutive victory in this World Cup, but the start was not good as opener Imam ul Haq was first to go for 12 runs when the score of Pakistan was 16, followed by star batsman and captain of Pakistan Babar Azam for only 10 runs, when total of Pakistan only 37/2.
But after that, a mighty partnership of 176 runs between Shafique (113 off 103 balls) and wicket keeper batsman Rizwan (131 not out off 121 balls). When Shafique departed, Pakistan’s total was 213/3 in 33.1 overs. Now, another partnership of 95 runs between Rizwan and Saud Sakeel (31 off 30 balls), brought Pakistan on the verge of victory and finally, at 48.2, they posted a 6 wicket win over Sri Lanka and their 2nd victory in this World Cup.
Another record in World Cup today: 345 is highest successful chase in the History of tournament.
Rizwan : Man of Match
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