Three months after Lahore,SL too good for ‘distracted’ Pak

It didn’t take too long to find out.

Sohail Tanvir,unplayable on his day (though his days have been rare of late) bowled one of those nightmarish,never-ending first overs — no ball,wide,dot,wide,no ball,four,single,wide,four,dot,four.

They did fight their way back after that,their spinners restricting Lanka to an extremely gettable 150,but so insipid was their batting that they still managed to lose by 19 runs.

More than a memory

Before start of play,the players had lined up together for the national anthems — one Lankan,one Pakistani — rather than as separate teams. The last time these two teams were playing,the Lankan team bus had been attacked by gunmen in Lahore. Since then,three months ago,the political climate in both countries has taken a turn for the worse. For these teams,for both countries perhaps,this event is more than just a string of Twenty20 games.

However,where the Lankans have managed to focus on cricket,Younis Khan admitted it was hard not to get distracted when bombs were going off in their home towns. “After that attack on the Sri Lankan team,it was very hard. Such a thing had never happened before in Pakistan. The other day,there was this bombing in Peshawar — and it affects us. We are all human beings,and it is affecting our performance,” Khan said.

The captain had copped a lot of flak for his comments on this,both after the loss to England and after the victory against The Netherlands,where he had described this format of cricket purely as fun — “like a WWE match”. On Thursday,though,he was more eloquent. “You have to look ahead,” he said,“whether you win or lose. This is life. Sometimes you have good days,sometimes you have bad days.”

Friday turned out to be one of those bad days. Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya capitalised on Tanvir’s generosity to get the team off to a flier. Dilshan’s knock of 46 included eight hits to the fence — including one scooped over his head off Mohammad Aamer’s left-arm pace,a shot he has played with telling effect since landing in England.

Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal stemmed the flow of runs,picking up crucial wickets after the power plays,as Lanka just didn’t have enough to launch a late assault. Afridi got rid of both Jayasuriya and Dilshan,while Ajmal lured Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to their doom. Where the first six overs had gone for 65,only 30 came off the last five.

Throwing it away

The momentum was with Pakistan,but their batsmen threw it away. Salman Butt’s wretched run of form continued as they stuttered to 36 for three in their first six overs. Younis and Misbah managed to keep their heads,some measured cricket taking them to within striking distance.

With 52 required off the last five — and seven wickets in hand — they just fell apart. Six wickets fell for 21 runs as they hobbled to 131 for nine off their 20. Sri Lanka had conceded three extras to Pakistan’s 20,the difference,perhaps,between the sides.

For all the positive thinking,there’s little Younis can take from this match. At least he’ll know the self-destruct button still works.