Opener Fakhar Zaman returned to form with a brilliant century to help Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by three wickets in the tri-series final in Lahore on Saturday.
Zaman, who overcame a wretched streak of just 31 runs in four matches, smashed a 99-ball 127 to help Pakistan chase down a target of 326 with nine balls to spare.
Sri Lanka pacer Dilshan Madushanka ended Zaman’s innings in the 34th over with 106 needed for victory but Arafat Minhas (61) and Hasan Nawaz (37 not out) put on 94 for the sixth wicket to seal the win.
Minhas hit four sixes and three fours in his 31-ball innings.
Skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi hit the winning six to send a packed Gaddafi Stadium into a frenzy.
This became Pakistan’s first tri-series title at home after failing in the finals of the 1994, 2004 and 2025 tri-series.
Zaman, who cracked 11 fours and half a dozen sixes in his 12th ODI hundred, lifted Pakistan from a disastrous start after Maaz Sadaqat (5) and Babar Azam (0) fell with the total at 14.
Zaman added 149 off 140 balls for the third wicket with Saad Baig who scored a 74, bringing up his maiden ODI half-century.
Shaheen said he always believed in Zaman.
“We made a great comeback in bowling and then here was a collapse with the bat again, but Fakhar played a brilliant knock,” said Shaheen of the opener who completed 4,000 ODI runs in his 97th match.
Sri Lankan skipper Kusal Mendis blamed sloppy fielding.
“We were short of 25-30 runs but our bowling unit did well which was not supported by mistakes in the fielding,” said Mendis referring to Zaman’s drop catch on 69.
Earlier, Sri Lanka were lifted to 325-8 by Kamindu Mendis, who scored 131 for his maiden ODI century, after Pakistan won the toss and sent the tourists in to bat.
Kamindu and Pavan Rathnayake added 146 runs for the third wicket, before Pakistan skipper Shaheen dismissed Kamindu and Dasun Shanaka (17) in the space of two overs.
Kamindu and Avishka Fernando (38) helped set Sri Lanka up for a big total as they shared an opening stand of 87 inside 18 overs.
Spinner Salman Agha, who took 2-44, provided Pakistan with a double breakthrough, getting rid of Fernando and Kusal Mendis (8).
But Kamindu anchored the innings, hitting 12 fours and two sixes, improving on his previous highest ODI score of 64.
Pakistan pulled it back in the last five overs, taking three wickets for just 38 runs to stop Sri Lanka from posting a larger total.
Shaheen finished with 2-50 while Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah also took two wickets each.
Source: Khaleej Times