Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 1st ODI at Dubai, , Nov 11 2011 - Match Result

A cakewalk for the 'home' team, their spinners set it up by bowling Sri Lanka out for 131 and Farhat and Younis ensured there were no hiccups in the chase. Sri Lanka will be disappointed but they have a chance to make amends. Nitin Sundar's report is getting updated as I type. Join us in a bit for the presentation.

Shahid Afridi is Man of the Match for his three-for. An excellent comeback. Afridi: "Alhamdullilah, feeling great to come back in the international arena after a while. We have a good team combination at the moment, we're going through a rebuilding process. Misbah is leading the team very well."

Tillakaratne Dilshan: "We didn't start well. I didn't expect this performance. We didn't bat well, that's the main reason we lost. They bowled well in the first few overs, our shot selection wasn't very good. We have to come back strongly. We thank our fans for supporting us, we'll come back strongly."

Misbah-ul-Haq: "It's all about the team-work. The guys are doing a wonderful job. The fast bowlers gave us a good start, Hafeez and Afridi were brilliant. The bowlers are doing their job and putting them under pressure and getting wickets at the right time. The strength was our spinners, we stuck to the basics and they bowled well with the new ball. Afridi is a match-winner, he came on and bowled with a big heart. He took wickets at the right time and put us on the right track."

That's it for today. Thanks for tuning in and sending us your feedback. Join us for the next game, until then it's goodbye.

Scores level

Mark Kidger: "Like many English fans, I have a soft spot for both Pakistan and the West Indies. Pakistan because of their history of wonderful players (when you grow up watching players like Mushtaq, Sadiq, Zaheer Abbas, Imram Khan and Abdul Qadir you can't help it) and the West Indies who always seemed to pummel us from the mid-70s on, but they were just such magnificent players that you could only look on in wonder."

Dilhara to bowl

A fine half-century from Farhat, Pakistan are almost there.

Shahrukh: "It really does feel that way, I think it's because Pakistan has gone through hell, and really hit rock bottom last year. Maybe we are finally ready to become a serious force in world cricket, no more the mercurial, "very talented bunch of guys", but a dominating cricket force!! Too far??"

Sarfraz Ahmed, the wicketkeeper, is the new man in