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Match reports

Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 2013-14

Wisden's review of the first ODI, Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 2013-14

15-Apr-2014
At Sharjah, December 18, 2013 (day/night). Pakistan won by 11 runs. Toss: Pakistan. One-day international debut: Sharjeel Khan.
Pakistan's victory looked a done deal when Sri Lanka slumped to 221 for seven in the 42nd over. But a few hearty blows from Prasanna and Senanayake sent nerves jangling, and Pakistan lapsed into all kinds of errors. The eighth-wicket partnership realised 87 off 45 balls, and it was not until Senanayake toe-ended to cover in the penultimate over - twelfth man Anwar Ali took the catch at the second attempt - that Sri Lanka's challenge fizzled out. Mohammad Hafeez, without a fifty in the home and away series against South Africa, made a patient seventh one-day century, augmented by breezy innings from Sharjeel Khan, who shrugged off a blow to the shoulder from Malinga to make fifty on his one-day international debut, and his childhood friend Sohaib Maqsood. Lakmal, preferred to Nuwan Kulasekara, was savaged late on by Shahid Afridi in a 12-ball 34. Despite their victory, Pakistan ran into problems with DRS: Ahmed Shehzad took more than the permitted 15 seconds to tell the umpires he wanted to review his dismissal; Afridi later pestered his sceptical teammates into trying one out on Chandimal, and received an ear-bashing when the technology showed the ball sliding down leg.
Man of the Match: Mohammad Hafeez.