Thrilling one-wicket win hands Pakistan T20 series

Although Mukhtar Ahmed departed the scene early on, Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, steadied the ship for Pakistan before Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal finished with a flourish towards the end.

Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka has being easily their most successful tour in recent history.

“I am hopeful that Pakistan will beat Sri Lanka 2-0 in the T20s”, Azhar said while talking to reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Jayasuriya (1-37), on debut, struck the big blow when he got Afridi out with a ball that slid past the bat and clipped off stump, ending the skipper’s 22-ball blazing knock.

Aggressive batting by debutant Shehan Jayasuriya and Chamara Kapugedera lifted Sri Lanka to 172-7 in the second and final Twenty20 global against Pakistan in Colombo on Saturday.

The second match will be played at the same venue on Saturday with Pakistan looking to complete a triple on the current tour, having earlier clinched the Tests 2-1 and the One Day Internationals 3-2.

In reply, Sri Lanka stuttered from start of their innings and could only make 146 within their allotted 20 overs. 27-year-old Anwar Ali sent shockwaves across the cricketing world by taking the Lankan attack (including skipper Malinga) to the cleaners when the game looked dead and buried at 107 for 7 while chasing 173. Pakistan then needed 6 from 6 deliveries with one wicket left and it was Imad Wasim who stuck a wonderful six to seal the game.

Tanvir returned Pakistan’s best bowling figures of 3-29, while Ali had 2-27.

However, the Pakistanis had other ideas and inflicted a crushing defeat on their hosts in the first T20 on Thursday and set themselves up for a clean sweep across all three formats which would truly be the icing on the cake.

Pakistan’s squad for the series of two Twenty20 matches against Sri Lanka includes leg-spinner Yasir Shah, fast bowler Mohammad Irfan and pacer Sohail Tanvir.

Meanwhile, Malinga said they have made one change with Shehan Jayasuriya making it into the team in place of injured Angelo Mathews.