CARDIFF: Young batsman Fakhar Zaman departed after scoring his debut ODI fifty, but not before seeing Pakistan off to a confident start in response to Sri Lanka's 236 in the virtual quarterfinal of Champions Trophy between the two teams at Cardiff on Monday.
Brilliant bowling from Pakistan pacers earlier restricted Sri Lanka to 236 runs.
Hasan Ali ended resistance by tail-enders as he bowled out Lakmal, after Junaid Khan and Mohammad Amir ripped through the opponent's middle-order picking up four wickets in quick succession.
Junaid picked up wickets of Thisara Perera and de Silva for just a single each, hastening the collapse after captain Angelo Mathews was bowled by Mohammad Amir on 39.
Junaid Khan bowled a ripper to get rid of Dhananjaya de Silva. Mohammad Amir again bowled a brilliant ball while captain Sarfraz Ahmed took a sensational catch to get rid of well-settled Niroshan Dickwella.
Hasan Ali struck in a déjà vu repeat of Wayne Parnell's wicket to dismiss Mendis, followed by debutant Fahim Ashraf who clean bowled Chandimal for a duck, as Pakistan put brakes on Sri Lankan batting early into the game.
Junaid Khan earlier struck in his second over to dismiss opener Gunathilaka cheaply, after Pakistan won the toss and decided to bowl first.
The winner of the match would face England in the semifinals while the losing team would be knocked out of the tournament.
Leg-spinner Shadab Khan made way for all-rounder Fahim Ashraf, who received his ODI debut cap earlier today.
Pakistan bounced back to beat top-ranked South Africa by 19 runs on Wednesday at Edgbaston, after suffering a heavy defeat to India at the same venue days earlier.
Sri Lanka upset India at The Oval with a stunning seven-wicket win after losing their opening match to South Africa earlier in the tournament.
‘Boost to players’
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed, speaking to media ahead of the big game, said: "We had a good bowling meeting. We took wickets. If you take wickets, every good team feels under pressure."
When you're just 237 runs from the #CT17 semi-finals! 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/8L7siUSZY4— ICC (@ICC) June 12, 2017
The Green Shirts were also inspired by playing in front of a partisan crowd, something they have rarely enjoyed in the recent past.
"That is a feeling we miss, not playing in Pakistan," said Sarfraz. "Maybe that was a difference, the crowd was supporting us and that’s why the players were boosted."
"It’s one of the top wins, to beat India," said Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews. "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."
Pakistan do have some recent knowledge of the ground having beaten England there by four wickets in a one-day international last year.
Left-arm spinner Imad Wasim starred with both bat and ball in that Cardiff clash and he will hope for more success upon on his return ‘home’ -- he was born in the nearby town of Swansea.
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