Tri-Series: Fifties of Rathnayake, Liyanage against Pakistan go in vain
What's the story
In a thrilling start to the ODI Tri-Series, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The hosts racked up 305 in 49.5 overs, riding on Salman Ali Agha's incredible ton. In response, Pavan Rathnayake and Janith Liyanage put SL in the driving seat after a patchy start. Despite their half-centuries, the Lankans lost by 37 runs.
Chase
Rathnayake, Liyanage lead SL's fightback
SL's chase was off to a scratchy start as they lost Avishka Fernando in the sixth over.
Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Faheem Ashraf all struck in quick succession, reducing SL to 91/4 in the 20th over.
Kamindu Mendis scored the majority of those runs before falling to Shaheen for 44 (50).
Pavan Rathnayake and Janith Liyanage led SL's fightback with a century stand.
Partnership
Duo takes SL past 250
The 119-run stand that came off 107 balls finally broke in the 38th over when Faheem Ashraf sent back Rathnayake. The latter departed for 79 off 74 balls (6 fours and 2 sixes).
However, Liyanage propelled the visitors past 250 with his 74-ball 60. Haris Rauf then chipped in to remove the set batter.
SL still required 53 off 38 balls at that point.
Numbers
ODI numbers of Rathnayake, Liyanage
Rathnayake, who made his ODI debut last year, recorded his second 50-plus score, including a ton.
In 10 matches (9 innings), he now has 376 runs at an average of 41.77. His strike rate is 94.23.
Meanwhile, Liyanage raced to his eighth ODI half-century. He has racked up 1,149 runs from 40 ODIs (34 innings) at an average of 42.55.