Pakistan secured a 37-run win over Sri Lanka in the first ODI of the ongoing tri-series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on Sunday, October 18.
Pakistan batted first and posted a daunting total of 305 in 49.5 overs. Salman Agha (107) was the top scorer while Eshan Malinga scalped a four-wicket haul. In response, Sri Lanka could score 268 in 48.1 overs, losing the game by 37 runs. Shaheen Afridi picked up a three-wicket haul.
On that note, let’s take a look at who said what after PAKvSL, 1st ODI.
Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan captain:
We wanted to bat first at winning the toss. We were looking to score beyond 300 and Agha batted well. I was happy to see how Saad Baig batted and Hasan Nawaz stitched partnership with Agha. The wickets are good for fast bowlers in this series and all the fast bowling were talking to each other about how the pitch was behaving and making plans accordingly.
Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka captain:
I think we needed to be a little bit more positive with the bat in the powerplay. Our bowlers bowled really well in the last 10 overs and they bowling unit did really well. But I think I took a little bit more balls in the powerplay because of which we struggled early on. Only a couple of guys did not score runs and we made small mistakes after the 40th over, otherwise Rathnayake and Liyanage put up a good partnership. We need to learn from the mistakes in this match.
Salman Ali Agha, player of the match:
I did not have any other option [but to go back to domestic cricket and perform after what happened in the last two months]. I struggled in those series [England and West Indies] but did not struggle before them. I did not have much time [to improve on my batting so I went to domestic cricket]. These times come on you as a cricketer. But all I thought about was going back to the domestic game and make things right, which I did and it has paid off today. The ball was coming really nicely and I spoke to Hasan Nawaz that we both need to build partnership. We both bat aggressively and if we build a partnership we will score beyond 300. I did not want to take risk and for that I had to run hard. I was trying to hit the ball in the pockets and take singles. The outfield was a bit slow which is uncharacteristic of this venue and because of it I had to run hard.
