This match turned into one of the thrillers of the tournament two teams Pakistan and Sri Lanka who had been written off. Were now at the stage where they were both facing each other to secure a semi-final berth. What a match it turned out to be, the rollercoaster that ensued had all the spectators glued to their seats.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan both were fighting in this game to make sure they would secure that semi-final slot.
Sri Lanka were batting in this crunch game, and they started off well they were building a good score which would give their bowlers enough runs on the board to play with. Alas Pakistan had other plans, their bowlers Amir and Khan made sure that Sri Lanka didn’t get a chance to score that many runs. They helped Pakistan control the game, and it went a long way in ensuring that Pakistan had a score they could chase down.
The Sri Lankan batting innings was a very up and down at the best of times just when you thought they were in the game they were losing wickets. All their batsman chipped in they were getting starts, and getting out so they scored in bits and pieces which gave the Sri Lankan innings a two-paced feel to it.
They managed to get to 236 runs which was a reasonable total but Pakistan would be able to chase this total down. Pakistan just needed to ensure they had wickets in hand and could calmly and steadily get this total. Pakistan on the other hand had other ideas, they made this chase more difficult from themselves than they needed to.
Pakistan had a fantastic start it looked like they were cruising along, their opening batsman Ali and Zaman gave them the perfect start. In between though they lost a cluster of wickets and that is when everything looked like it was going pear shaped. The seventh wicket partnership, between Sarfraz and Amir was the saving grace for Pakistan.
Sarfraz the captain played a great but shaky innings, he was very lucky as he was dropped twice by the Sri Lankan fielders. This match had everything going on dropped catches, fielding not going to plan, boundaries galore, wides you name it everything happened. The game got interesting in the latter overs, as Sri Lanka really tried to get both Amir and Sarfraz out.
Both Amir and Sarfraz survived though and saw their team to victory. Amir finished it off in style by hitting a boundary and thus securing Pakistan’s place in the semi-final. They will be facing a very strong England side so they will need to ensure everything is in order and make sure their batting is a lot more solid.
Sri Lanka did try their best, but they have been knocked out of this tournament, only if they had held onto those catches it might have been a different story and the game could have gone in their favour.
England vs. Pakistan will be played at Cardiff as well.