Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by eight wickets to reach tri-series final
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by eight wickets in Lahore on Tuesday, October 27.
- Pakistan were bowled out for just 110 runs in 25.3 overs.
- Sri Lanka chased 111 in 18.1 overs and booked a place in Saturday's final.
Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by eight wickets in Lahore on Tuesday. The win put Sri Lanka into the tri-series final. The final will be played on Saturday, October 31.
Pakistan scored only 110 runs before losing all ten wickets. Sri Lanka chased the small target with ease. They reached 114 runs for the loss of two wickets in 18.1 overs.
The result also ended England's hopes in the series. England had already lost all three of their games. They needed a Pakistan win to stay alive.
That win never came.
What is a tri-series
A tri-series is a contest with three teams. Each team plays the others in turn. The top two teams then meet in a final.
This series has Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and England. The games are one-day internationals. In a one-day game, each team bats once.
Each team can face up to 50 overs. One over is six balls bowled.
Pakistan had already reached the final before Tuesday. They had won their first three games. Sri Lanka needed a win to join them.
Tuesday's win gave Sri Lanka that second final spot.
What happened: Pakistan collapse for 110
Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl first. That means Sri Lanka fielded first and Pakistan batted first. The choice paid off fast for Sri Lanka.
Pakistan lost opener Fakhar Zaman for five runs in the fourth over. Dilshan Madushanka took his wicket. Maaz Sadaqat fell next for eight runs.
Pakistan were 23 runs for two wickets after 6.2 overs.
Saad Baig made five runs before Madushanka struck again. Salman Ali Agha scored nine runs. Babar Azam then led a short fightback for Pakistan.
He scored 29 runs off 33 balls, with five fours.
Babar was Pakistan's top scorer in the game. No other Pakistan batter passed 20 runs. Pakistan slipped to 61 runs for five wickets after 13.1 overs.
The hosts never found a big partnership after that.
Shadab Khan scored only two runs this time. Shadab had hit a century against England on Sunday. Arafat Minhas scored ten runs.
Hasan Nawaz scored 17 runs off 31 balls.
Madushanka kept taking wickets at the end. He removed Haris Rauf for one run. Shaheen Shah Afridi hit two sixes in a late burst.
Shaheen scored 15 runs off 13 balls. Madushanka then dismissed Shaheen to end the innings.
Pakistan were all out for 110 runs in 25.3 overs. It was the third-lowest total Pakistan have made against Sri Lanka in one-day games. That fact shows how bad the batting day was.
Madushanka's career-best bowling
Dilshan Madushanka was the star with the ball for Sri Lanka. He took five wickets for 34 runs in 8.3 overs. It was the best bowling of his one-day career so far.
Madushanka is a left-arm fast bowler. He bowls fast with his left arm. He struck early and he struck late.
His five wickets broke Pakistan's batting again and again.
Sahan Arachchige took two wickets for Sri Lanka. Asitha Fernando took one wicket. Eshan Malinga took one wicket.
Dunith Wellalage took one wicket. The whole attack shared the work, but Madushanka led it.
Sri Lanka's bowlers gave Pakistan no room to settle. They took wickets at regular times through the innings. Pakistan could not build a partnership of any size.
That is why the total stayed so low.
What happened: Sri Lanka chase 111 with ease
Sri Lanka needed 111 runs to win the game. Openers Kamindu Mendis and Avishka Fernando started fast. They passed 50 runs together in the seventh over.
Shaheen Shah Afridi broke the opening stand. He dismissed Fernando for 16 runs off 17 balls. Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis then made eight runs off six balls.
Arafat Minhas dismissed him in an odd way.
The ball hit Kusal Mendis's bat and then hit the stumps. That is how the Sri Lanka captain lost his wicket. Sri Lanka were still in full control of the chase at that point.
Kamindu Mendis then took charge of the chase. He scored 62 runs without getting out, off 60 balls. He hit eight fours and two sixes.
It was his fifth half-century in one-day games.
Kamindu Mendis had luck on his side too. He was dropped by the wicketkeeper before he had scored. He also won a review against a leg-before-wicket call on 44 runs.
A review lets a batter ask the TV umpire to check a decision.
He reached his fifty with a pull shot for six runs. The shot went for six because substitute fielder Ghazi Ghori touched the boundary rope while taking the catch. A catch does not count if the fielder touches the rope.
Pavan Rathnayake stayed with Kamindu Mendis to the end. Rathnayake scored 23 runs without getting out, off 26 balls. Sri Lanka passed 100 runs in the 17th over.
They sealed the win in the 19th over of the chase.
Sri Lanka finished on 114 runs for two wickets in 18.1 overs. They won with 191 balls still left in the game. That is a huge margin in a one-day game.
Why it matters: England are out
England are out of the tri-series after this result. They lost all three of their games in Pakistan. They needed Pakistan to beat Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
They also needed to beat Sri Lanka themselves on Thursday.
That path is now closed for England. Thursday's game between England and Sri Lanka cannot change the final. It is now a dead rubber.
A dead rubber is a game that cannot change who reaches the final.
England's tour of Pakistan has been a hard one. They failed to chase 303 runs in one game. They then failed to defend 430 runs in another game.
Sri Lanka chased that total down in the second-highest chase in one-day history.
Then came Sunday's one-wicket win for Pakistan. Shadab Khan hit 113 runs without getting out in that Lahore thriller. He shared an 89-run last-wicket stand with Haris Rauf.
That win had already put Pakistan into the final.
Pakistan had also beaten Sri Lanka by 37 runs in the first game of the series. Tuesday's loss does not change Pakistan's final place. It only decides who joins them there.
That team is now Sri Lanka.
What happens next: a rematch in the final
Pakistan and Sri Lanka will meet again in the final on Saturday. The two teams know each other well by now. They have already played twice in this series.
Each team has won one of those two games.
Sri Lanka will take huge confidence from Tuesday's win. They bowled Pakistan out for 110 runs. They chased the target down with ease.
They will want the same bowling show in the final.
Pakistan will want a very different batting show. Their batters failed as a group on Tuesday. Babar Azam was the only batter to pass 20 runs.
The final gives them a fast chance to fix that.
Thursday's game comes first, though it changes nothing. England face Sri Lanka at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. It will be England's last game of this series.
After that, England travel to Australia for three one-day games and five T20 games.
The T20 format is a shorter game, with 20 overs per team. England's Australia games start on November 13. For Pakistan and Sri Lanka, all eyes turn to Saturday. The final will decide who lifts the tri-series trophy.
For more on how this series reached this point, read Pakistan's final race after the Lahore win and the tri-series scorecard from the earlier games.
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