Posted by Gareth Parry Added on: June 16 2012
Sri Lanka 280 for 4 (Dilshan 119*, Jayawardene 53) beat Pakistan 204 (Azhar 96, Perera 6-44) by 76 runs
Sri Lanka suffered at the hands of the weather and a rampant Pakistan seam attack in the first ODI and were looking to draw level in the series in the second match.
Jayawardene won the toss for Sri Lanka and, in dry conditions, once again chose to bat. Without the assistance of the rain this proved to be the right decision as Sri Lanka posted a total of 280.
Dilshan was the top scorer for the home side and carried his bat on his way to an unbeaten 119 which came from 139 deliveries and included eleven 4's and a 6. Tharanga, Sangakkara and Chandimal all got starts in their innings but were unable to support Dilshan with large contributions.
Jayawardene however played an excellent innings as he and Dilshan added 86 for the 4th wicket. Dilshan was tiring by the time he was joined by his captain and chose to play the anchor role while Jayawardene attacked the bowling. Jayawardene scored 53 runs which came a a strike rate of 117.77.
Pakistan will have hoped for some respite from the onslaught of Dilshan and Jayawardene when the Sri Lankan captain fell in the 46th over. However Perera added to the Pakistan sides misery with a cameo innings of 24 from just 14 deliveries which included two 4's and two 6's.
As in the first ODI; Pakistan had played only five specialist batsmen and were made to regret that decision.
They started briskly with Azhar Ali showing his quality in ODI cricket with the top score of 96. He and Hafeez looked good in the first ten overs. It took a moment of brilliance from Perera, who continued his good day, to dismiss Hafeez with a stunning one handed, diving, return catch.
Azhar Ali had provided most of the impetus for the Pakistan innings and scored 26 of the runs in his partnership of 30 with Younis. The fall of Younis in the 17th over brought Misbah to the crease and whilst he and Ali were together Pakistan looked in control of the match.
The Sri Lankans didn't panic in the face of Ali and Misbah and remained patient whilst restricting the run rate. Perera won the match for Sri Lanka with a six wicket haul. Not only did he finish with career best figures of 10-0-44-6 but he also accounted for the first three Pakistan wickets to fall.
Once the Azhar Ali fell and the Pakistan tail was exposed they capitulated with their last six wickets falling in less than ten overs. Kulasekara and Malinga were also in the wickets with each man picking up two wickets as Pakistan reached only 204 meaning the home side won by an impressive 76 runs.
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