Pakistan Beat Sri Lanka by 37 Runs — Salman Agha's Hundred Holds, and Sri Lanka's Chase Falls Apart in Fifteen Runs

Some innings are remembered for what they produced; Salman Agha's will be remembered for what it prevented. Pakistan had been sent in at Rawalpindi, lost both openers to Dilshan Madushanka's short ball inside six overs, then Babar Azam five short of a fifty and Saad Baig two overs later, and at 118 for 4 in the 22nd over, with a long tail waiting, the afternoon was leaning Sri Lanka's way. Salman, returning to the ODI side, simply declined to let it. His 107 from 90 balls was his fourth ODI hundred, and it carried Pakistan to 305.

For most of the evening it did not look like enough. As the dew settled on the outfield, Pavan Rathnayake and Janith Liyanage added 119 for the fifth wicket and Sri Lanka needed 55 from the last seven overs with five wickets in hand. Then Liyanage chipped Haris Rauf to long-on with 53 still wanted, and the chase came apart like wet paper: the last five wickets fell for 15 runs. Pakistan 305 (49.5 overs). Sri Lanka 268 (48.1 overs). Pakistan won by 37 runs in the opening match of a tri-series that also features England, and Salman was named Player of the Match.

The batting was built in three stands. Babar and Saad Baig took Pakistan from 32 for 2 to 106 with a partnership of 74, and Pakistan were 73 for 2 at the first drinks break. Malinga, Sri Lanka's quickest bowler on the day, then rushed Babar with a short ball that he pulled late to short midwicket, and Baig picked out deep fine leg in Malinga's next over. That was the moment Salman walked into: 118 for 4, and a side that had looked uneasy against the short ball all afternoon.

What followed was ODI batting from an older textbook. Salman and Hasan Nawaz added 97, with Salman doing the heavier lifting while Nawaz found his feet, and he took 11 off the 25th over when Sri Lanka turned early to Kamindu Mendis' spin. His fifty came from 48 balls; once Nawaz was caught at short midwicket by a leaping Rathnayake, he shepherded Arafat Minhas through a stand of 64, and his hundred came from 82 balls. Twenty-six runs came off the 44th and 45th overs. Pakistan then lost their last five wickets for 26, Salman among them, caught at long-on trying to clear the rope, and needed two lusty blows from Shaheen to scrape past 300.

With the ball, Naseem Shah was the one constant. His 10 overs cost 43, he removed Avishka Fernando in the sixth over, and he was, by the report's account, the only Pakistan bowler who did not get worked over during the fifth-wicket stand. Faheem Ashraf's two tight overs finally lured Rathnayake into spooning one to Salman at short cover, Rauf had Liyanage chipping to long-on, and Shaheen removed Dasun Shanaka the following over. From 253 for 5 to 268 all out took 4.3 overs. Pakistan's four seamers shared nine wickets; the tenth was a run-out by Babar and Baig.

Sri Lanka's bowlers did nearly everything asked of them. Madushanka's extra pace accounted for Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub, Malinga took 4 for 46 and two wickets in successive balls at the death, and Asitha Fernando's 3 for 59 included Salman and Minhas. Pakistan lost their last five wickets for 26 and were bowled out with a ball to spare. If there was a lapse, it was the middle overs: the premature turn to spin let Salman settle, and Kamindu and the legspinner Sachindu Colombage went wicketless across 12 overs for 80.

The batting is where the match was lost, twice. The top four were too slow to keep pace with the asking rate: Kusal Mendis made 18 from 34 balls and Sri Lanka were 91 for 4 in the 20th over. Rathnayake and Liyanage then played it nearly perfectly, Rathnayake pacing his 79 to the required rate and pulling Shaheen for two sixes, and together they made 119. But with 53 needed and the set pair at the crease, Sri Lanka gave Pakistan the opening and could not close it. The lesson is not complicated: one of Rathnayake or Liyanage had to be there at the end, and neither was.

We weren't at the ground, so we go by the scorecard and the match report. There was early swing on offer for Sri Lanka's seamers, but it was pace and the short ball that did the damage: Fakhar, Babar, Baig and Nawaz all fell to deliveries dug in short. Not one of the 20 wickets fell to spin; eighteen went to seamers and two were run-outs. By the second innings the dew had set in, which made batting easier and gripping the ball harder, and it helps explain why Sri Lanka were cruising at 210 for 4 in the 38th over. Extras were generous on both sides, 17 conceded by Sri Lanka and 20 by Pakistan, and Sri Lanka were penalised for a slow over rate, with an extra fielder inside the circle for the last two overs of Pakistan's innings.

Salman has had a bruising couple of months, dropped from the Test side and from the T20I captaincy, and this was the format and the situation he is best suited to. He walked in at 106 for 3, saw Baig fall almost immediately, and then batted with the calm of a man who knows where the next single is. He stayed on top of the run rate without needing to hit the ball in the air, covered for Nawaz's slow start, survived a Sri Lankan review on umpire's call in the 43rd over, and brought up his hundred from 82 balls with ten fours and a six. He took part in the two biggest stands of Pakistan's innings, 97 and 64, and he also held the catch that removed Rathnayake. Without him, Pakistan's tail would have been batting in the 30s.

Our preview made Pakistan favourites on home advantage, the better pace attack and Babar Azam, and the first two of those held up: Pakistan's seamers took nine wickets. Babar made 45 before the short ball got him. Our Pakistan player to watch, Shaheen Shah Afridi, took 3 for 55, though his wickets came after the powerplay rather than in it, and he was pulled for two sixes by Rathnayake. Our Sri Lanka player to watch, Wanindu Hasaranga, did not play, and neither did Charith Asalanka, around whom we built Sri Lanka's case; Pathum Nissanka was not in the XI either. We also suggested spin could make it competitive if Rawalpindi turned in the second innings. It didn't: no spinner on either side took a wicket, and dew rather than turn shaped the chase. Right result, wrong reasons on several counts.

Pakistan have the first win of the tri-series and stay in Rawalpindi to play England on Tuesday, October 20. England then meet Sri Lanka at the same ground on October 22, before the return fixtures move to Lahore and the top two meet in the final at the Gaddafi Stadium on October 31. For Sri Lanka, the question is whether the batting that nearly chased 306 can start faster. For Pakistan, it is whether a top order that kept getting out to the short ball can stop leaving it to Salman.