Farhan leads Pakistan to victory on debut as Captain

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Lahiru Udara celebrates his maiden T20I fifty

Naseem Shah struck in the first over on his way to three wickets

Sahibzada Farhan scored a fifty on his debut as Pakistan T20I Captain

Maaz Sadaqat scored a rapid 50 off

29 balls

Sri Lanka lose first T20I by four wickets

RAWALPINDI: Sahibzada Farhan in his debut as T20I Captain guided Pakistan to a four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first T20I played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday to put his team 1-0 up in the three-match series.

Farhan struck 10 fours and 4 sixes in his knock of 89 off 53 balls as Pakistan chased down Sri Lanka’s total of 182-8 to win with seven balls to spare.

Farhan starred in partnerships of 54 off 31 balls for the first wicket with Fakhar Zaman (21) and 92 off 52 balls with 21-year-old newcomer Maaz Sadaqat who virtually took the game away from Sri Lanka with a blistering 50 off 29 balls (4 fours, 3 sixes).

Sri Lanka fought back after the partnership was broken to capture five wickets for 34 runs, but Pakistan by then were not under any pressure to score the remaining runs.

Sri Lanka winning the toss and choosing to bat first finished on 182-8 with half of their runs coming from the bat of Lahiru Udara. The ball moved around early and Sri Lanka struggled against the Pakistan seamers after opting to bat. Captain Kusal Mendis fell early while Kamil Mishara, who walked in after his dismissal, took nine balls to get off the mark. If not for Udara, Sri Lanka might have struggled to put up a score on the board.

Udara struck a magnificent 91 off 55 deliveries (11 fours, 1 six) as he almost single handedly dragged his side into this contest. There were crucial stands of 60 off 37 balls and 57 off 34 balls between Udara and Kamindu Mendis (23) and Udara and Dasun Shanaka (18). Those stands helped set a pretty handy platform for the death overs, but Sri Lanka’s lack of lower order power hitting meant they weren’t full able to capitalise on the death overs - managing 41 runs across the final four.

Udara was brilliant with his footwork against the spinners, moving around in the crease, never allowing them to settle down. He used the pace of Razaullah quite nicely. One thing Pakistan will be really disappointed about will be the 18 wides they gave away, nearly all of them by Naseem Shah. Sri Lanka will also be grateful for the 29 extras offered up.

Pakistan›s effort was spearheaded by debutant Muhammed Imran, who finished with exceptional figures of 2/21, but the rest of the bowlers all received some stick courtesy Udara.