Catches Win Matches

Catches Win Matches 

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan

by Shazeen Ifamy

TOP STORIES

• The two-match test series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan ended with the visitors clean sweeping the series two to none. Pakistan won the first match by four (4) wickets and the second match by an innings and 222 runs handing Sri Lanka their heaviest defeat at home. 

Award Winners:

• Player of the Match 1st Test: Saud Shakeel

• Player of the Match 2nd Test: Abdullah Shafique

• Player of the Series: Agha Salman

Where were the Games Won?

The decisive factor of the series was not the batters nor the bowler but rather the fielders! This is because fielding was the decisive factor of the series which Pakistan was better at as they took almost every chance that come their way, especially the close-in fielders. As a result of this, Pakistan ended up winning the series! 

Asides from fielding, batting was another important factor that separated the two teams as Pakistans batters were far more disciplined than Sri Lankans as they did the basic right and scored plenty of runs to set up the victory while the Lankan batter played an array of poor shots leading to their demise.  

What was the Surprise of the Series?

The surprise of the series was how well the young Pakistani batsmen played, as the youngsters in Saud Shakeel and Abdullah Shafique both scored double centuries and in total Pakistan had three (3) centuries including the two double centuries compared to Sri Lanka’s one (1) century. 

Another surprise of the series was Pakistan’s intent as they were consistently scoring at around four (4) runs an over hence putting pressure on the Sri Lankan bowlers, especially their spinners resulting in them getting frustrated and bowling lose bowls costing them the match.

Notable Players:

Most of Pakistan’s players stood out throughout the series, one of those players is their left-arm spinner, Noman Ali, who took 10 wickets throughout the two matches and finished the series as the highest wicket-taker including seven (7) wickets in a single innings during Sri Lankas second inning in the second match setting up victory for his team. 

For Sri Lanka, most of their players were disappointing throughout the series except for one in Dhananjaya de Silva, who finished the series as the second-highest run-scorer with 271 runs in four (4) innings including a fine century.

Summary

Overall, this series was a disappointing one for the host, Sri Lanka as they failed to compete and were simply blown away. With that said, they will especially be disappointed with their senior players as none of them put their hands up when the team needed them the most. Aside from this, they were also weak in all three aspects of batting, bowling, and fielding which all in all cost them the series. On the other hand, Pakistan will be incredibly pleased with their performance as almost everyone in the team contributed leading to the victory and gaining valuable ICC World Test Championship points. In conclusion, with this series win, Pakistan extend their head-to-head lead in Sri Lanka to 11 against Sri Lanka’s nine and win the re-match all hands down! Congratulations to them!

 

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