11/29/25 11:09:00
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11/29 11:07 CST Spinners lift Pakistan to 6-wicket win over Sri Lanka to clinch
T20 tri-series title
Spinners lift Pakistan to 6-wicket win over Sri Lanka to clinch T20 tri-series
title
By RIZWAN ALI
AP Sports Writer
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) --- Pakistan spinners baffled Sri Lanka batters as
the hosts won the T20 tri-series title match by six wickets on Saturday.
Sri Lanka lost its last eight wickets for just 16 runs before it got bowled out
for 114 in 19.1 overs after Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha won the toss and
elected to bat.
Pakistan cruised to 118-4 with eight balls to spare in a lop-sided final with
opening batters Saim Ayub (36) and Sahibzada Farhan (23) providing a solid
start before Babar Azam scored an unbeaten 37 off 34 balls.
Sri Lanka came into the final with back-to-back wins over Zimbabwe and Pakistan
but crumbled against spinners Mohammad Nawaz (3-17), Abrar Ahmed (2-18) and
Ayub (1-17).
The visitors looked set to post a competitive total by reaching 81-1 at the
halfway stage but hit just one six in the 12 overs off the slow bowlers.
Left-handed opener Kamil Mishara staked his claim for next year's T20 World Cup
with 59 off 47 balls as he shared 64-run stand with Kusal Mendis (14) to give
Sri Lanka a perfect platform.
But the slide began when Babar plucked a terrific catch over his head on the
edge of long-off boundary in Nawaz's first over to dismiss Mendis in the 11th
over.
Mishara, who raised his half-century off 37 balls, tried to push the scoring
rate before Babar hung onto another brilliant diving catch while running from
long-off boundary as Sri Lanka slipped to 98-3 in the 14th over.
Ahmed then claimed two wickets in one over with Babar capping his perfect day
in the outfield by grabbing Pavan Rathnayake's (8) catch and Kusal Perera's
below-par white-ball tour to Pakistan continued when he skied a catch to
wicketkeeper Usman Khan after scoring 1 off 6 balls.
Nawaz finished the tri-series as the top wicket taker with 10 wickets when he
dismissed Janith Liyanage and Wanindu Hasaranga cheaply before Shaheen Shah
Afridi (3-18) mopped up the tail in his return spell to limit Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka struggled to get an early breakthrough as Farhan and Ayub shared
46-run opening stand. Ayub was aggressive against Maheesh Theekshana in the
power play and hit the spinner for three boundaries in one over and Farhan
smacked Hasaranga for a six and a four of the first two balls the leg-spinner
bowled after the power play.
Eshan Malinga (1-16) had Farhan clean bowled off a delivery that seamed into
the right-hander and Ayub got trapped lbw of Hasaranga's (1-31) delivery that
kept low and struck the left-hander on the backfoot.
Although Rathnayake (2-11) claimed the wickets of Agha and Fakhar Zaman in
successive overs, Babar stayed calm before guiding Dushmantha Chameera to third
for a winning boundary with plenty of balls to spare.
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
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