On Tuesday, in Hyderabad, Pakistan scripted a world-record chase to edge out Sri Lanka by six wickets in a high-scoring ODI. They continued their winning run in the ICC World Cup 2023. Mohammad Rizwan battled severe cramps to smash an unbeaten century. Abdullah Shafique hit a maiden ton.
Rizwan played his innings superbly. The star player shared a match-winning 176-run stand for the third wicket with the 23-year-old Shafique (113) to first resurrect their chase of a stiff 345 runs. He then added another 95 runs with Saud Shakeel (31).
In the history of the World Cup, this was the highest successful run-chase.
Sri Lanka opted to bat. They dished out a dominating batting performance to post a challenging 344 for nine. Kusal Mendis (122) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (108) played nicely.
However, Shafique showed great maturity. He and Rizwan took control, bringing up the team’s 100 in the 19th over. While Shafique deposited two sixes over midwicket and one straight down the ground, Rizwan too produced an inside-out drive off Wellalage for four and another cut shot behind point to score his fifty off 58 balls.
When Pak needed 20 off 18 balls, Iftikhar Ahmed smashed three fours off Matheesha Pathirana.
Earlier, in World Cup history, Mendis’ 77-ball 122-run knock was the fastest hundred by a Sri Lankan. Samarawickrama picked up his maiden ODI ton with an 89-ball 108 as the islanders scored their highest World Cup total.
To keep Sri Lanka on track, Samarawickrama held the innings together. However, Pakistan picked up two more wickets to limit Sri Lanka inside 350 in the end.
For Pakistan, Hasan Ali (4/71) claimed four wickets and Haris Rauf (2/64) cracked two but overall it was a poor outing for the bowling unit, especially Shaheen Afridi (1/66 in 9 overs) and Shadab Khan (1/55 in 8 overs).