Pak vs SL final: Fakhar Zaman's 127 as Pakistan chase 326 to win the tri-series
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by three wickets in Lahore after Fakhar Zaman's 127 and Arafat Minhas's 61 off 31. How the chase was won, and the six that ended it.
Four days after Sri Lanka bowled them out for 110, Pakistan chased 326 against the same side to win the ODI tri-series final at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Saturday, 31 October. They got there by three wickets with nine balls left, finishing on 331 for 7 in 48.3 overs, and captain Shaheen Shah Afridi ended it with a six.
It was the opposite of Tuesday’s game, when Pakistan were all out in 25.3 overs and lost by eight wickets (our report on that collapse). This time the top order stood up and the lower order finished the job.
Pak vs SL final scorecard in short
- Sri Lanka: 325 for 8 in 50 overs (Kamindu Mendis 131 off 128, Pavan Rathnayake 77)
- Pakistan: 331 for 7 in 48.3 overs (Fakhar Zaman 127 off 99, Saad Baig 74 off 75, Arafat Minhas 61 off 31)
- Result: Pakistan won by three wickets
How did Sri Lanka get to 325?
Kamindu Mendis opened and made 131 off 128 balls, his first ODI century, and shared a fifty stand at the top with Avishka Fernando. Pavan Rathnayake, Sri Lanka’s best batter of the series, added 77.
At one stage 350 looked possible. Pakistan pulled it back at the death, taking three wickets for 38 runs in the last five overs. The wickets were shared evenly: Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah took two each.
Fakhar Zaman and Saad Baig build the chase
Fakhar made 5 on Tuesday. On Saturday he scored 127 off 99 balls with 11 fours and six sixes, his 12th ODI hundred. The innings that mattered most was the partnership: Fakhar and Saad Baig added 149 for the third wicket, which took the pressure off a chase that needed more than six an over from the start.
Baig, who also fell cheaply on Tuesday, made 74 off 75, his first ODI fifty. Dilshan Madushanka, who took 5 for 34 in the league game, finally removed Fakhar with Pakistan on 220 for 4.
Arafat Minhas turns it, Shaheen finishes it
When the fifth wicket fell at 230, Pakistan still needed close to 100 and Sri Lanka were back in the game. Arafat Minhas answered with 61 off 31 balls, and the required rate stopped being a worry.
Arafat has been Pakistan’s player of the series in all but name: he was the team’s leading wicket-taker by the last league round, and earlier in the series took 6 for 40 against England.
The finish belonged to the captain. Shaheen hit Madushanka over midwicket for six in the 49th over to seal the title in front of a home crowd.
Why this win matters
This was Pakistan’s first ODI tri-nation title on home soil, and it came with a mostly settled side: Salman Agha’s hundred in the opener, Shadab Khan’s unbeaten 113 against England and now Fakhar’s century mean four different batters won games across the series. Tuesday’s 110 all out showed how fragile the top order can be; Saturday showed what it looks like when two of them bat long.
The next test is the red-ball series against Sri Lanka, for which the PCB has already named a squad with uncapped players.
