Sheikh Zayed Cup: 2nd ODI - Sports

Malik scored a stylish half century to help
his team reach a respectable total of 290Image Courtesy: AFP Getty Images

Hey folks, for those of you who were unable to follow the 2nd ODI being played between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, here's a brief review of what happened yesterday:

A powerful Pakistani side notched up an easy win against a handicapped Sri Lankan side in today’s 2nd ODI being held at the lovely Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Sri Lankan greats; Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Upal Chandana were unable to join the side due to prior commitment with their respective English county teams. Pakistan were playing with the same team that beat India in last month’s tour, with the only two changes being the addition of Moin Khan at the expense of Rana Naved and Arshad Khan in place of Mohammad Sami.

Earlier, Pakistan started off slowly with Afridi falling away on 17 leaving Pakistan at 29 for 1. From there on, Butt and Malik steadied the innings, playing some sensible strokes and most importantly making sure they didn’t lose their wickets too soon. However, as the momentum was slowly picking up, Butt played a delivery from Malinga into the safe hands of Dilshan and Pakistan were left at 87 for the loss of two. Youhana stroked a quick 28 off 27 before being caught by Vandort off Dilshan’s bowling. Younis Khan then stepped in and played an excellent knock, scoring 71 off only 69 balls, with just 3 fours and a six in his entire innings. Inzamam too, chipped in with 30 off 31 balls while the rest of the tail ended cheaply but not before they were able to register a daunting score of 290. Moin Khan was run out when he was on a score of nil while Akmal was bowled out for just one.

The Sri Lankan response was hardly one they would have desired, with captain Marvan Atapattu being deceived by a late reverse swing from Rao Ifthikar and edging it straight in to the hands of the keeper. They had hardly recovered from the initial blow, when Vandort was bowled out to a sensational delivery by Rao once again; the ball swung into the left hander who was completely dumbfounded as the ball sneaked through between his bat and his body. From that point on, wickets tumbled one after another, with the only resistance coming from Jayawardene who stayed at the crease and played some fantastic shots. He scored 69 off 77 balls while his assistant Ramyakumara played responsibly to reach his half century off 81 balls. Jayawardene had begun to show signs of weariness and frustrations as the boundaries had dried up due to some very tight bowling by Malik and Afridi. He finally came down the track and tried to smash one out of the ground at long on, but only managed to play a simple catch into the hands of Butt. The Sri Lankan tail was dismissed quickly and without much opposition.

Pakistan now face Indian tomorrow in the 3rd and final ODI match of the Sheikh Zayed Cup being played at the state of the art Sheikh Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. India lost their first match to the Sri Lankan masters by 97 runs.