Hundred by Babar Azam and all-round show by Shadab Khan help Pakistan defeat Sri Lanka in second ODI

[MenInG]

Babar Azam hit a second successive century and Shadab Khan put up a strong all-round performance in Pakistan's 32-run victory over Sri Lanka in the second one-day international on Monday.

Azam scored 101 off 133 balls a day after celebrating his 23rd birthday while Shadab dug in to score 52 not out to lift Pakistan's total to 219-9.

Captain Upul Tharanga scored an unbeaten 112 and became the first Sri Lanka batsman to carry his bat in an ODI, before his team was bowled out for 187 in 48 overs.

Shadab outfoxed batsmen with his leg-spin to finish with 3-47 in yet another Sri Lanka top-order batting collapse.

Azam and Shadab featured in a century stand after Pakistan slipped to 101-6 against seamers Lahiru Gamage (4-57) and Thisara Perera (2-34).

Earlier, Imad Wasim followed Shoaib Malik and skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed to the pavilion after being judged lbw on Jeffrey Vandersay's ball. He scored 10 runs.

Mohammad Hafeez was caught behind on the last ball of the first power play for eight, right after he hit Gamage for a straight six.

Zaman was out for 11, caught in the slips facing Lahiru Gamage, bringing in the in-form Babar Azam. Ahmed Shehzad was able to make only eight runs before being caught trying to hit Suranga Lakmal for a four.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1364187/second-odi-azam-shadab-lift-pakistan-to-32-run-victory

 

[Amjid Javed]

Excellent all round performance for shadab to win us the game. Babar also played his best ever odi knock after his worst in the last game. So some positives going into rest of series.

 

[another drop catch]

well played tharanga

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Imam-ul-Haq should be tried in the next game instead of Shezzy.

 

[AFM]

What a transformation of our ODI side in the past few months!

 

[Sirris]

Cash award of $500, is this a poorly executed joke?

 

[QalandarFan]

6-0 keep the streak going!

Great comeback from 101-6 then a great bowling performance.

 

[Cric1234]

The streak goes on batting still an issue Sri Lanka might be worse than West Indies currently.

 

[rizwanak]

Shadab should now be counted as a proper all-rounder

 

[sshakir411]

Imad and Shehzad need to be dropped. Imam and Faheem come in.

 

[nads_rocks]

2 matches 2 centuries. Out of 219 he made 100 so thanx to him and Shadab nobody else really did much in batting.

Same previous match it was Babar and Malik rest not much. Can't falter him. He's becoming a solid no.3 for us playing the consolidating role but others have to also make runs and not just leave it all to him

 

[ExplicitAI]

Babar is a world class batsman, there will be many more innings like this from him. Fully backing him to become the leading ODI run scorer for Pakistan.

 

[Square Drive]

Great win.

Was only a matter of time before Shadab got to show what he's made of with the bat. Delighted to him.

Way to go Babar. World-class.

 

[mak36]

A good victory but here's hoping they don't use the win as an excuse to paper over the cracks in terms of selection etc. Also, catching was terrible today. Needs to improve.

 

[Nasty Naz]

At this point, its hard to justify contuining using Shehzad. If Sarfraz won't open, might as well just go back to Hafeez opening and put Haris at #4. And with Haris in the lineup, there's a good case to be made to play Ashraf instead of Imad and it gives you numerous bowling options of 4 quicks, 3 offie, 1 leg spinner.

 

[Amjid Javed]

The rest of the batting line up needs to improve next game.

 

[mawarid]

Great win but Shehzad needs to go.

 

[Zaheer Haq]

B.Azam is a great player Look at the age and his performance . Good wishes

 

[Rayyman]

The rest of the batting line up needs to improve next game.

Yes. Need good performances from Fakhar, Hafeez, Sarfraz, and Imad.