Maaz Sadaqat Falls Four Short, Pakistan Win by 82 and Take the Series

Some hundreds are missed by a careless stroke, and some because the overs simply run out. Maaz Sadaqat's was the second kind. He faced the last ball of Pakistan's innings on 96 and was caught by Dasun Shanaka off Eshan Malinga. He finished four short of a hundred, but his 96 had already decided the match.

Sri Lanka chose to field, a reversal of the call that lost them the opener, and it did not help. Sahibzada Farhan's 73 and Sadaqat's 96 took Pakistan to 215 for 3, with 72 coming from the last 31 balls. Sri Lanka lost Lahiru Udara, their top scorer in the first game, in the first over, and Mohammad Imran's three wickets left them 49 for 4 by the eighth. Pakistan 215/3 (20 overs). Sri Lanka 133/7 (20 overs). Pakistan won by 82 runs and lead the three-match series 2-0, with the 3rd T20I still to come.

Pakistan's start was patient. Farhan and Fakhar Zaman made 46 without loss in the powerplay and brought up the fifty stand in 39 balls, all off the bat, and Fakhar fell for 22 at 55 in the seventh over. At drinks Pakistan were 90 for 1, with Farhan on exactly 50 (from 31 balls) and Sadaqat on 17. That was a decent position, though nothing that suggested 215.

The acceleration came after drinks. Sadaqat and Farhan put on 88 from 49 balls, Farhan finishing with 73 from 44 and five sixes, and when he was caught by Theekshana off Shanaka at 143 in the 15th over, Sadaqat took over. He reached fifty from 30 balls and scored his next 46 from 21. Hasan Nawaz hit 19 from 9 at the other end, and the pair added 72 from 31. Pakistan went from 90 at the halfway mark to 215, which is 125 from the second ten overs. Seven batters were left unused, Saim Ayub and Shadab Khan among them.

The bowling was then too good for Sri Lanka. Salman Mirza had Udara caught behind in the first over, after Pakistan successfully reviewed the decision. Mohammad Imran, who had been the most economical bowler of the opener, was even better here. He removed Sineth Jayawardena, then Kusal Mendis and Sahan Arachchige off consecutive balls in the eighth over, both caught by Khawaja Nafay. Shadab and Saim Ayub took a wicket each, and Nafay finished with three catches behind the stumps. Naseem Shah went wicketless but conceded only 28 from his four overs.

Chasing 216, Sri Lanka needed a fast start and someone to bat through, and they got neither. Udara, whose 91 had carried them in the first game, was gone for 5 with six on the board. The powerplay brought 35 for 2, and by drinks they were 64 for 4, needing 152 from the last ten overs. Kamindu Mendis made 23 before Hasan Nawaz caught him off Shadab, and Shanaka was out for 9. At 74 for 6 in the 12th over, the only question left was the margin.

Credit to the lower order for not giving up. Chamindu Wickramasinghe (29 from 24) and Theekshana (32 not out from 26) added 50 from 42 balls for the seventh wicket. Theekshana had a hard evening with the ball, his four overs costing 55, and it says something about him that he still came out and top-scored. Nuwan Thushara's 4-0-32-0 was the tidiest spell from Sri Lanka. Bowling first did not work out for them, and their attack struggled to stop Pakistan's batters once they got going.

The two innings were very different, and that gap is the most useful thing the scorecard tells us about the conditions. Pakistan's powerplay was 46 for 0, which was steady rather than spectacular, and the runs came once batters were set: 125 off the second ten overs. Sri Lanka scored at 6.65 an over, and every Pakistani bowler went for less than ten an over. Imran conceded 2.75. The surface seemed to reward batters who got in, and Sri Lanka kept losing theirs before they could. A crowd of 17,535 saw the home side win the series.

Sadaqat made 50 from 29 balls in the opener and 96 from 51 here, so 146 runs from 80 balls across two innings. What stood out on Saturday was how well he timed his innings. He was 17 at drinks, content to let Farhan lead, and scored 79 off his remaining balls. He hit six fours and seven sixes, and his fifty came from 30 balls with four of the sixes already in it. He needed a boundary off the last ball for his hundred and was caught instead, and at that point there was nothing to do but go for it. Ninety-six from 51 balls in a series-winning total is a fine way to fall short.

We got the result wrong again. Our preview made Sri Lanka the "more polished unit" and the more settled outfit, and Pakistan beat them by 82 runs to win the series.

Our players to watch did not have much influence. Saim Ayub, our Pakistan pick, did not bat, although his three overs went for only 19 and he dismissed Shanaka. Wanindu Hasaranga, our Sri Lanka pick, was not in the XI, and nor were Matheesha Pathirana, Pathum Nissanka or Dushmantha Chameera, the four players our preview built Sri Lanka's case around. We did say that Shadab Khan would bowl his overs and give Pakistan a middle-overs threat, and he bowled three overs for 19 and took a wicket. We also called Naseem Shah Pakistan's most dangerous pace option. He was economical but went wicketless, and the match-winning spell came from Mohammad Imran, whom we didn't mention.

Pakistan lead the three-match series 2-0 and have won it, after a four-wicket win in the opener and an 82-run win here. The 3rd T20I is at the same ground on October 13. For Pakistan, it is a chance to give the unused batters a hit. For Sri Lanka, it is a chance to finish the T20I leg with a win before the Test series that follows in November.