Gul, Sami shine with ball in six-wicket win
Man of the match Umar Gul celebrates a scalp.
Pakistan made a triumphant start to the ODI series as they registered an easy six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first one-day international at Pallekele, on Thursday.
Mohammad Hafeez top-scored with 37 in a chase of 135, as the visitors secured their ninth win in 11 matches over Sri Lanka. The match was interrupted several times by rain, as Umar Gul harnessed the conditions to grab three wickets in a sharp opening spell, restricting the home team to 135-8 after Mahela Jayawardene elected to bat.
The fast bowler (3-24) removed skipper Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dinesh Chandimal to send Sri Lanka reeling at 23-3 in nine overs, in the rain-curtained encounter which was eventually reduced to 42-overs-a-side.
Although Pakistan lost Azhar Ali and Younis Khan early in the chase, Hafeez, skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (30) and Umar Akmal (36 n.o.) ensured that there were no further hiccoughs for the visitors, as they romped home in the 35th over with six wickets to spare.
Earlier, Gul was superbly backed by paceman Mohammad Sami, who dismissed Kumar Sangakkara and all-rounder Angelo Mathews in his first two overs to reduce the hosts to 41-5. Sami finished with 3-19 off six overs.
Lahiru Thirimanne, who added 50 for the eighth wicket with Nuwan Kulasekara (18), top-scored for Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 42 while extras contributed 31, the second-highest tally of the innings.
Thisara Perera (17) and Upul Tharanga (10) were the other batsmen to reach double-figures.
Sangakkara, who took 20 deliveries to open his account, made just nine runs before being trapped leg-before while Mathews was caught at first slip by skipper Misbah-ul-Haq for no score.
Off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez bagged two of the last three wickets to finish with an impressive 2-20 off 10 overs. Gul struck in his third over when he had opener Dilshan (five) caught by Saeed Ajmal at mid-on and then trapped Jayawardene (three) leg-before in his next over.
He put more pressure on Sri Lanka when he bowled Chandimal for no score in his fifth over.
The second one-dayer will also be played in Pallekele on Saturday and the last three games in Colombo on June 13, 16 and 18. The one-dayers will be followed by a three-test series starting on June 22.
