It’s a hammering as Pakistan make it a clean sweep
PAKISTAN v SRI LANKA ODI ROUND-UP
PAKISTAN completed a clean sweep of a Sri Lanka side which returned to bad habits in the fourth and fifth ODIs of the series.
In Sharjah, Sarfraz Ahmed’s side took advantage of the most abject display Sri Lanka have turned in since the five-match series began.
Slumping to 99-7, Lahiru Thirimanne (62) performed a rescue act to spare Sri Lanka’s blushes and take their total to 173 all out, with help from tailenders Akila Dananjaya (23)
and Suranga Lakmal (18).
Pakistan raced to their target to win with 11 overs to spare to win by 7 wickets and leave Sri Lanka with slim hopes of consolation in the fifth ODI.
The tourists stooped to another level of inept in the second match in Sharjah with just one batsman putting up numbers higher than 20 and three of their top five batsmen scoring ducks.
If Sri Lanka have been teetering on the edge of a cliff for much of 2017 it was in this match they took the plunge.
Usman Khan was the fuel for a fiery exhibition of express pace bowling in bowling Sri Lanka out for 103 inside 27 overs. Of the five batsmen the left-arm quick dismissed in his match figures of 5-34, a mere 14 runs were compiled.
In reply, Sri Lanka’s bowlers wilted to allow Pakistan openers Imam ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman fight it out to reach fifty. Zaman coming closest on 48 until he became the only wicket to fall and Pakistan finishing off a onesided encounter shortly afterwards.