Mohammed Hafeez took four wickets with the ball (4/41) and scored a century (103) with the bat to help Pakistan win the 1st ODI by 6 wickets against Sri Lanka at Dambulla on Saturday.
Hafeez became the 2nd Pakistan player to take 4 scalps and score a ton in an ODI when he achieved the great all-round feat in a match-winning effort for his country and guided them to 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Less than a week ago, he was retested for illegal bowling action by ICC.
Mohammed Hafeez also known as the ‘Professor’ bowled his best bowling figures in an ODI to restrict Sri Lanka to 255. Dinesh Chandimal struck a brilliant 65* for the hosts. Pakistan chased down the target with 28 balls to spare thanks to a superlative 10th ODI ton by Hafeez and a half-ton by Shoaib Malik.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first. TM Dilshan and Kusal Perera started off positively against the Pakistani seamers. Dilshan was given caught behind off Mohammed Irfan but the replays gave him another chance as the bowler over-stepped. Kusal struck 4 boundaries but soon after off-spinner Hafeez came to bowl in the ninth over, he was undone for 26 ending a 44-run opening stand.
The oldest ODI player in active cricket, Dilshan was rusty and could not time the ball as he often does. Thirimanne came to bat at number 3 and he too got a terrific start but he fell to the bowling of Anwar Ali attempting a loose cover drive when the score was 82.
Tharanga batting at number 4 started slowly in his 27-ball knock of 20 but he was stumped off Hafeez. Sri Lanka was tottering at 118 for 4 when Dilshan misread a Hafeez delivery and got himself bowled ending his knock of 38.
Skipper Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal resurrected the innings perfectly with a sensible 82-run stand on a surface which had spin, seam and bounce. Mathews top-edged an expansive slog sweep against the spin of Yasir Shah. Captain Marvel, Mathews made 5 fours in his responsible innings of 38.
Thisara Perera failed to make an impression with the bat when he became Hafeez’ 4th wicket. Wicket-keeper batsman, Dinesh Chandimal and debutant, Milinda Siriwardana guided the innings in the final 10 overs to accumulate 40 runs between them. The all-rounder, Siriwardana chipped in valiantly with a 21-ball 22.
Pakistan started off briskly in their chase but Angelo Mathews used the tactic of having the keeper up for Azhar Ali and it worked well when his counterpart gave an under-edge ending a 47-run opening partnership. The visitors lost Ahmed Shehzad in the 15th over when he was caught behind by Chandimal off Lakmal for 21 attempting a faulty cover drive. Hafeez partnered up with young Babar Azam to construct a 58-run stand for the 3rd wicket but Sri Lanka came back to remove Azam through part-time spin of TM Dilshan when the score was 123.
Sri Lanka needed another breakthrough but Hafeez and Shoaib Malik completely took the game away by counter-attacking the Lankan bowling attack, especially inaccurate Seekuge Prasanna and rusty Lasith Malinga. Prasanna gave 8 runs per over in his 9-over spell while Malinga’s economy was 7 runs per over in his 8-over spell.
Hafeez was dismissed by Thisara Perera soon after he reached his ton to end their 75-run fourth wicket stand but Malik and Mohammed Rizwan made sure they did not let Sri Lanka sniff a chance by putting on 61 runs in 57 balls to cruise to victory.
Sri Lanka – 255/8 in 50 overs: Kusal Perera 26, TM Dilshan 38, Lahiru Thirimanne 23, Upul Tharanga 20, Angelo Mathews 38, Dinesh Chandimal 65*, Milinda Siriwardana 22, Rahat Ali 2/44 Mohammed Hafeez 4/41
Pakistan – 259/4 in 45.2 overs: Azhar Ali 21, Ahmed Shehzad 29, Mohammed Hafeez 103, Babar Azam 25, Shoaib Malik 55*, Mohammed Rizwan 20*, Suranga Lakmal 1/21.
