It was party time at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo when Angelo Mathews clobbered a four off Md.Sami and guided his team to a fabulous victory in the 5th and final ODI. Sri Lanka won the match by 2 wickets and also the series 3-1. It was a gutsy knock of 80* by Angelo Mathews in just 76 balls that helped Sri Lanka reach the target of 248 with just 2 balls to spare. Angelo Mathews won the Man Of The Match Award for his unbeaten 80.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first. Pakistan needed to win this one to level the series and their hopes were on Hafeez and Imran Farhat to provide them a good start. Farhat was playing his first match in the series because Younis Khan was dropped from the side. Another surprising selection was that of Md.Sami in place of Saeed Ajmal. Farhat and Hafeez struggled early on. Hafeez fell for just 6 to a peach of a delivery by Nuwan Kulasekara. Azhar Ali was the next man in and he has been in tremendous form with the bat in the recent past. Imran Farhat unleashed himself on to the scene and reached his 50 in just 56 balls. But he was out soon after to Perera for 56.
Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali were now batting in full flow, mixing caution with aggression. Jeewan Mendis was then introduced into the attack and he responded soon by getting the wicket of Azhar Ali. Asad Shafiq continued to carry on in his merry way and hit boundaries consistently. It required a brilliant piece of fielding by Thirimanne to get rid of Shafiq for 38. The late impetus was provided by Misbah ul Haq and Umar Akmal, who scored heavily in the batting powerplay. Pakistan finally ended up on 247/7 in 50 overs with Umar Akmal finishing on 55 not out in 61 balls. Jeewan Mendis took 2/30.
Sri Lanka had a tall order in front of them and needed to bat well because chasing 248 is a tough job under the lights in Colombo. Sri Lanka got off to a disastrous start, losing both Dilshan and Tharanga cheaply. Both were bowled by Tanvir. Sangakkara and Chandimal began the repair job and took the game forward. Sangakkara was looking elegant at the crease, playing some delightful shots off the pacers. Sri Lanka were 97/2 when Shahid Afridi struck double blow, dismissing both Sangakkara and Jayawardene on successive deliveries. Dinesh Chandimal too fell soon after scoring a well compiled 50. Thisara Perera was promoted up in the batting order ahead of Thirimanne to hit some big shots. But he was run out for a duck.
The scoreboard read 137/6 and Sri Lanka still needed 111 runs to win. Angelo Mathews was rotating the strike well and also scoring the occasional boundary. Jeewan Mendis proved to be the game changer when he smacked 2 fours and 1 six in the 44th and 45th over. But his innings was cut short for 19 by Tanvir. In the meanwhile, Mathews reached his 50 and was waiting for the right time to launch. The match came down to the last over with Sri Lanka needing 15 in 6 balls. Sami was given the ball by Misbah. The first ball was a wide, followed by a 2. 12 were needed in 5 balls when Mathews tonked Sami straight over his head for 6. The match was now in Sri Lanka's hands. Mathews sealed the victory with a 2 and a 4 of the next to balls. Mathews once again proved to be the hero with 80*. Sri Lanka won the match by 2 wickets and the series 3-1.
PAKISTAN-247/7 (50)
Imran Farhat-56 (63)
Umar Akmal-55* (61)
Asad Shafiq-38 (46)
Misbah ul Haq-32 (48)
Azhar Ali-30 (49)
SRI LANKA-248/8 (49.4)
Mathews-80* (76)
Chandimal-54 (74)
Sagakkara-40 (68)
Tanvir-3/42
Afridi-2/48
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