Anand Mahindra took to Twitter and wrote," I am thrilled at Sri Lanka’s victory this evening. Not because I wanted Pakistan to lose. But because Sri Lanka’s victory reminds us that Team Sports are not about celebrities & superstars but about—yes—Teamwork!."
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka scored 170 runs after being put into bat by Pakistan after a brilliant half-century from Bhanuka Rajapaksa.Sri Lanka ended their innings at 170/6 in 20 overs. They had made a brilliant recovery from scoring 42/3 in the powerplay. They made 78 runs in middle overs from overs 7-16 and got 50 runs in the death overs.
Sri Lanka pulled off a remarkable comeback from a poor position in powerplay while batting, with help of Rajapaksa (71*) and Hasaranga (36) to reach 170/6 in 20 overs. While bowling, it was spells of Wanindu Hasaranga (3/27) and Pramod Madushan (4/34) that helped Lanka seal the victory by 23 runs, despite a threatening stand of 61-runs between Mohammad Rizwan (55) and Iftikhar Ahmed (32).
Sri Lanka kept Pakistani willows silent for the next two overs and struck gold with the wicket of star batter Babar Azam for 5. Pramod Madushan took his wicket after the batter was caught by Madhushanka at short fine leg, with the latter making up for his expensive first over. Pakistan was 1/22.
Madushan dismissed left-hander Fakhar Zaman for a golden duck, taking two wickets in two balls. After a terrible first over, Sri Lanka were favourites again, having reduced Pakistan to 2/22.
From then on, Rizwan and Ifitkhar Ahmed tried to steady the ship for Pakistan. Sri Lanka, however, continued bowling brilliant lines and lengths, keeping their opponents largely on the backfoot. Men in Green could score only 15 in 15 balls after Madushan's double blow and at powerplay end in six overs, Pakistan was at 37/2, with Rizwan (16*) and Iftikhar (6*).
The duo helped run come for Pakistan and the 50-run mark was touched in 7.3 overs. At the end of 10 overs, Pakistan was at 68/3, with Rizwan (36*) and Ifitkhar (17*) at the crease.
A 50-run stand between the duo was up in 44 balls. At the start of the second half, Iftikhar seemed to turn things in his side's favour with a four and six. Wanindu Hasaranga's 12th over gave away 14 runs.
Things seemed to swing in favour of Sri Lanka when Madushan bagged his third wicket of the match in the 14th over. He ended the 71-run stand between Rizwan and Iftikhar after the latter was caught for 32 off 31 balls at backward square leg by KNA Bandara.
Mohammad Nawaz was next on the crease. At the end of 15 overs, Pakistan was at 101/3, with Rizwan (47*) and Nawaz (6*). A solid 15th over by Dhananjya de Silva built pressure on Pakistan by giving away just four runs. Pakistan needed 70 runs in the final five overs. Pakistan finished the match at 147 all out after Haris Rauf was bowled by Karunaratne for 13.
