Pakistan, Sri Lanka to clash in Cardiff

PAKISTAN and Sri Lanka head into their concluding Champions Trophy group match knowing it is a virtual quarterfinal after producing two of the tournament’s biggest upsets so far.

Today’s match in Cardiff has the look of a dead rubber about it after Pakistan suffered a 124-run thrashing by archrivals and Champions Trophy title-holders India in their opening Group B match.

But now, in the words of Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews, the final round of fixtures in this pool are a “must-win game for all of us”.

Sri Lanka also suffered an almost as heavy a loss in going down by 96 runs to South Africa first up in a tournament featuring the world’s top eight one-day international teams.

But Pakistan bounced back to beat top-ranked South Africa by 19 runs.

And 24 hours later, Sri Lanka had a winning return at the Oval, courtesy of a stunning seven-wicket success against India.

Trying to explain the turnaround in his team’s fortunes, Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said: “We had a good bowling meeting.

“We took wickets. If you take wickets, every good team feels under pressure.”

Pakistan were also inspired by playing in front of a partisan crowd, something they have rarely enjoyed since a 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore led to them playing most of their major matches overseas.

“That is a feeling we miss, not playing in Pakistan,” Sarfraz said.

“Maybe that was a difference, the crowd was supporting us and the players were boosted.”

Sri Lanka also did not lack support at the Oval as they turned the tables on India in dramatic fashion.

Set 322 to win, Sri Lanka knocked off the runs with eight balls to spare, thanks to contributions from Kusal Mendis (89), Danushka Gunathilaka (76) and all-rounder Mathews (52).

“It’s one of the top wins, to beat India,” Mathews said.

“The bowlers did brilliantly to restrict India to 321. It was a very chaseable target.

“Not many people expected us to win and that took a lot of pressure off us.”

Today’s match is the only Group B fixture taking place in Cardiff.

Pakistan have some recent knowledge of the ground, beaten by England there by four wickets in a one-day international last year.