Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 19 runs at Lord’s. The Lankans are continuing their winning ways. They won the toss and elected to bat. The openers Jayasuriya and Dilshan provided a superb start. They put on 81 runs for the first wicket. But Pakistan did well to restrict the Lankans to 150/7. 

The first 8 overs went for 80 runs. Afridi provided the first breakthrough when he dismissed Jayasuriya for 26 runs. The batting slide started with the fall of the first wicket. The team scored just 70 runs in the last 12 overs, which is well below par in this format of the game. Afridi, Ajmal, and Gul took 2 wickets each.

Pakistan, chasing 151 for victory, started dismally. Salman Butt was out for a duck in the first over. He was clean-bowled by Angelo Mathews. The team collapsed to 35/3. Then, Misbah and Younis Khan put on a 66-run stand for the fourth wicket. The pair played carefully without taking too many risks. But, the asking rate was creeping all the while. 

By the time Pakistan started to up the tempo, the team started losing wickets. The 66-run stand was broken when Misbah was dismissed on 21. Afridi scored a first-ball duck. Younis fought bravely for his half-century. But, his effort was not enough for the team. Pakistan fell short by 19 runs and finished on 131/9. 

Sri Lanka – 150/7 (Dilshan 46, Afridi 2/23)

Pakistan – 131/9 (Younis 50, Malinga 3/17, Muralitharan 2/28)

Result – Sri Lanka won by 19 runs

Man-of-the-match – Dilshan

Venue – Lord’s, London (June 12, 2009)