Mohammad Hafeez’s reign as the captain of the Pakistan side began in awful fashion as Sri Lanka thrashed Pakistan by 37 runs in the first T20I played at Hambantota.
Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat first and posted a competitive total of 132 on the board. Pakistan displayed poor batting skills in reply and were bundled out for 95 in 17.4 overs.
Sri Lanka had a poor start to their innings as Sohail Tanvir was able to get Sri Lanka’s top three to reduce them to 31 for 3 in the 5th over. The comeback man Sami then bowled Chandimal in the eighth over to leave Sri Lanka reeling at 39 for 4. Mathews and Thirimanne led the recovery and even though Mathews was bowled by spin wizard Saeed Ajmal, Thirimanne continued to strike crucial boundaries in the middle overs.
Still, Saeed Ajmal reined Sri Lanka’s progress in the 17th over as Lokuarachchi got run-out and then Thirimanne got caught on consecutive deliveries. A late rally led by Thisara Perera’s 32 off 16 balls got Sri Lanka to a defendable total of 132 in 20 overs. Sohail Tanvir was the pick of the bowlers with a great spell of 3 for 12 while Umar Gul’s figures of none for 43 in four overs were disappointing.
Pakistan’s chase got off to a disastrous start as captain Hafeez and debutant Shakeel were caught at point by Dilshan on the bowling of Kulasekara on consecutive deliveries in the first over. Pakistan never really recovered from the loss of these two wickets and wickets kept falling around opener Ahmed Shahzad.
Khalid Latif went after scoring 3 while Shoaib Malik couldn’t stick around long enough either and departed in the 10th over to leave Pakistan at 4 for 46. Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shahzad gave Pakistan some hope but Malinga got the key wicket of Umar to kill Pakistan’s momentum. Shahid Afridi then cheaply gave his wicket away and Sohail Tanvir got run-out to end any hopes of Pakistan winning the game.
Ahmad Shahzad’s wicket in the 16th over was the last nail in Pakistan’s coffin as the whole team bundled out for 95 in the 18th over. Kulasekara, Malinga, Mathews and Senayake all picked up two wickets each.
Thisara Perera was given the man of the match award for his match winning knock of 32 off 16 deliveries.