Pakistan copped their first loss of the ODI Tri-series, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, keeping the dynamics of this series in mind. The next time they play will be in the final, that too against the same opposition at the same venue. Perhaps then, the biggest challenge that would face the hosts would be how they get this chastening defeat out of their minds.
Sri Lanka’s record in finals against Pakistan
Another worry on their minds would be that Sri Lanka haven’t really been a weak opponent in finals. Out of 19 finals across formats that the two teams have played against each other, Sri Lanka have won 10 of those, four of them coming in the last six games.
Pakistan’s captain Shaheen Shah Afridi urges his team to move on from the loss and keep their eyes on doing well in the final.
“We should forget that and move forward. We have three days now, and we can practice,” said Shaheen at the post-match presentation.
“We will come back in the final and bat stronger. We need to forget this game quickly and take the positives from the previous games.”
Pakistan’s top-order struggles continue
Despite the results almost always ending in Pakistan’s favour, some of their issues have dogged them across the series. The most notable of them was the issue with their top order. This saw Pakistan making two changes to the squad, solely to strengthen the top three.
Sufiyan Muqeem and Saim Ayub were released to bring in Maaz Sadaqat and Sahibzada Farhan, respectively. Of them, Sadaqat played against Sri Lanka, but much to Pakistan’s chagrin, that did not pay dividends as they had hoped.
Shaheen had previously acknowledged the lack of contributions from the top three and carried the same notion after the loss against Sri Lanka too.
“Unfortunately, for the last three or four games we are collapsing in the top order. We’ve had three wins and lost today,” said Shaheen.
Pakistan will now play Sri Lanka in the final on Saturday in Lahore. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have a dead rubber against England scheduled for Thursday.
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