Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in a T20 after 6 years

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Sri Lanka beat the number one T20 team Pakistan in Lahore yesterday (October 06) after 6 long years. A large number of senior members of the Sri Lankan team did not participate in this tour due to security reasons. The Sri Lankan team that included a number of young players took on the top T20 team at the Gaddafi Stadium yesterday. Winning the toss Pakistan captain Safraz Ahamed opted to field first. Sri Lankan openers Avishka Fernando and Danushka Gunathilake put up an opening wicket partnership of 84 runs. Gunathilake played 57 runs while Avishka Fernando scored 33. Playing in his maiden T20 innings Banuka Rajapaksa scored 32 runs. Dasun Chanaka who captained his first T20I match was dismissed for 17 runs. At the end of 20 overs, Sri Lanka were 165 runs with 5 wickets remaining. Mohammed Hasnain bagged 3 wickets for 37 runs. His wickets came in three consecutive balls bowled in two separate overs. For Pakistan Babar Azam scored 13 runs while captain Safraz Ahamed was dismissed for 24. Iftikhar Ahmed was run out while on 25 runs. None of the other Pakistani batsmen made double figures. At the end of 17 overs and 4 balls, Pakistan was bundled out for 101 runs by the Lankans. Sri Lanka won the match by 64 runs. Nuwan Pradeep and Isuru Udana took 3 wickets each. The last time Sri Lanka won a T20 match against Pakistan was in 2013. This is also the most convincing victory Sri Lanka has recorded against Pakistan in a T20 with a margin of 64 runs. Danushka Gunathilake was adjudged man of the match. Dasun Shanaka, Captian of the Sri Lankan T20 squad shared that the young team analyzed the game methodically and executed it accordingly to emerge victorious. Captain further added that the team hopes to face the remaining two matches confidently and bring honour home.