Asia Cup 2022: Spinners, Nissanka lead Sri Lanka to 5-wicket win over Pakistan

Excellent performance by spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana followed by an equally impressive halfcentury by Pathum Nissanka 55 not out off 48 led Sri Lanka to a convincing fivewicket win over Pakistan in a Super Four match of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on FridayBoth Sri Lanka and Pakistan have already reached the final of the tournament So it was a dress rehearsal before the summit clash and Sri Lanka will move into Sundays match with winning momentum and confidenceSpinners Wanindu Hasaranga 321 and Maheesh Theekshana 221 bowled brilliantly to bowl out Pakistan to 121 191 overs Apart from Hasaranga and Theekshana Pramod Madushan 221 Chamika Karunaratne 14 and Dhananjaya de Silva 118 also bowled with discipline and did a decent job for Sri LankaAlso Read Kohlis sensational 122 Bhuvneshwars fivefer help India thrash AfghanistanChasing a small target Sri Lanka were off to a terrible start losing three wickets in the powerplay Opener Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka didnt trouble the scorers and got out to Mohammad Hasnain and Haris Rauf respectivelyDhananjaya de Silva decided to counter attack and got a boundary on a pull shot However a bad shot in Raufs over cost de Silva his wicket leaving Sri Lanka in a spot of bother at 293 after 46 oversAfter losing three crucial wickets inside the powerplay Sri Lanka needed a partnership to revive their innings The pair of Pathum Nissanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa countered the Pakistan spinner efficiently during middle overs and stitched a 51run stand for the 4th wicketRajapaksa who hit a couple of delightful sixes against Usman Qadir eventually found the fielder while trying to launch another one over midwicket getting out after a breezy 24From there on Sri Lanka needed 42 from 51 balls and Nissanka carried his impressive outing with the bat to complete his half century and take his team closer to the victory He got a fine support in skipper Dasun Shanaka who added some momentum to the Sri Lanka innings making a quickfire 16ball 21 before falling with Sri Lanka needing less than 10 runs to winWanindu Hasaranga 10 off 3 who came to bat next smashed two boundaries in three balls and along with Nissanka remained not out leading Sri Lanka to victory in 17 overs with five wickets in hand Haris Rauf 219 Mohammad Hasnain 221 Usman Qadir 134 were the wickettakers for PakistanEarlier put into bat first Pakistan lost the wicket of inform Mohammad Rizwan 14 in the fourth over Rizwan looked to slog the ball from well outside off but he topedged and Kusal Mendis took an easy catchThereafter Fakhar Zaman and skipper Babar Azam batted too cautiously and took Pakistan to 491 after 6 overs Even after the powerplay Pakistan continued their conservative approach as none of the batters were willing to take risksThe pressure was building and Fakhar decided to break the shackles but Chamika Karunaratne dismissed him courtesy a brilliant catch by Wanindu Hasaranga at the boundary line In the very next over Hasaranga cleaned up Babar who walked down the wicket and looked to hit the ball over the fence but miscued it completely leaving Pakistan in a spot of bother at 683 after 104 oversAlso Read Cricket fraternity reacts to Virat Kohli breaking his century droughtThe spinners especially continued the good work putting a lid on the scoring rate which brought success for Sri Lanka Pakistan lost the wickets of Khushdil Shah 4 Iftikhar Ahmed 13 Asif Ali 0 Hasan Ali in quick succession getting in deep deep trouble at 957 after 156 oversIt was Mohammad Nawaz who hit few boundaries and six to give some late flourish to his team innings before getting runout in the penultimate over Eventually Pakistan were bowled out for 12110 in 191 oversBrief scoresPakistan 121 all out in 191 overs Babar Azam 30 Mohammad Nawaz 26 Wanindu Hasaranga 321 Maheesh Theekshana 221 lost to Sri Lanka 1245 in 17 overs Pathum Nissanka 55 not out Bhanuka Rajapaksa 24 Haris Rauf 219 by five wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever