Jayasuriya leads Lanka to series success

Captain Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu made fine half centuries in Sri Lanka’s 263-6 in the allotted 50 overs. Jayasuriya then celebrated his 200th One-Day International by chipping in with two wickets to wrap up Pakistan’s innings at 229 in 45.1 overs.

For the home team, Yousuf Youhanna made a fighting 68 (87b, 2×4) in the losing cause and Wasim Akram took 34 off just 29 balls with four sixes but the charge was not enough to avert the imminent defeat.

“We sure are on the rise and I am thankful to the team and the officials for lending their support,” said Jayasuriya, later named Man of the Match.

Sri Lanka had won the first encounter of the three-match series at Karachi by 29 runs.

Earlier put in to bat, Sri Lanka made a rousing start of 83 with both Romesh Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya taking full advantage of perfect batting strip.

Kaluwitharana hit three boundaries off Shoaib Akhtar’s fifth over. Akhtar conceded 34 in his five overs before he went off due to a groin problem and did not bowl again.

Pakistan muffed up a couple of run out chances as Sri Lanka accumulated 55 in the first 10 overs.

Kaluwitharana went in the 16th over when he edged an outgoing delivery from Abdur Razzak to wicketkeeper Moin Khan. Kaluwitharana’s 46-ball 32 had six scorching fours. Jayasuriya reached fifty off 55 balls with eight fours.

Only Arjuna Ranatunga (269), Aravinda de Silva (264) and Roshan Mahanama (213) have played more limited over games for Sri Lanka.

At 121, Jayasuriya miscued a sweep off Saqlain Mushtaq and was caught by keeper Moin. His 65 came off 78 balls spiced with nine hits to the ropes.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka: S Jayasuriya c Moin b Mushtaq 65, R Kaluwitharana c Moin b Razzaq 32, M Atapattu c Youhana b Mushtaq 57, M Jayawardene st Moin b Sohail 9, C Vaas c&b Akram 34, R Arnold not out 36, I de Saram run out 12, T Dilshan not out 0; Extras: (lb6, w9, nb3) 18. Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 263
Fall of wickets: 1-84, 2-121, 3-147, 4-199, 5-236, 6-262
Did not bat: M Muralitharan, U Chandana, P Wickremasinghe

Bowling: Akram 10-1-45-1 (5w), Akhtar 5-1-34-0 (1nb), Razzaq 10-0-42-1, Mahmood 10-0-51-0 (2nb, 1w), Mushtaq 10-0-48-2, Sohail 5-0-37-1 (3w)

Pakistan: S Anwar c Chandana b Vaas 17, A Sohail c Dilshan b Wickremasinghe 23, I Abbas run out 1, Y Youhanna c Chandana b Wickremasinghe 68, Y Khan b Muralitharan 28, M Khan b Jayasuriya 15, A Razzak c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 14, A Mahmood c Dilshan b Chandana 2, W Akram b Muralitharan 34, S Mushtaq b Jayasuriya 3, S Akhtar not out 1; Extras: (b4, lb7, w10, nb2) 23. Total: (all out in 45.1 overs) 229
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-32, 3-50, 4-118, 5-143, 6-176, 7-181, 8-198, 9-209

Bowling: Wickremasinghe 10-0-43-2, Vaas 9-0-38-2, Arnold 6-0-34-0, Chandana 5-0-28-1, Muralitharan 9.1-0-45-2, Jayasuriya 7-0-30-2.
Man of the match: Sanath Jayasuriya.