Hafeez humbles Sri lanka…

All rounder Mohammad Hafeez announced his return after missing the final Test as he guided Pakistan to a 6 wickets win against Sri Lanka with 28 balls to spare in the first ODI of the five match series played at Dambulla yesterday.
Hafeez was the destroyer of Sri Lanka with both bat and ball as he claimed 4-41 to restrict the home team to 255-8, and then scored a well directed 100 to guide the chase under pressure. He is currently awaiting the result of the test which he underwent in Chennai after he was called for a suspect bowling action and will be eligible to bowl until the test result comes out.
Chasing 255, Hafeez walked into the wicket as number three batsman and took control of the game as he came down the track and launched his first 6 of the inning to seal his 50 in 58 balls. It took only 35 more balls for him to reach his next 50, which included 3 more 6s and 5 more 4s as his 93 ball 100 included 4 sixes and 10 fours in all and was the backbone of the chase.
Hafeez had scored his last five ODI centuries against Sri Lanka, while becoming the second Pakistan all –rounder to score a century and take 4 or more wickets behind Sohaib Malik, who at the other end guided the latter part of the chase with an unbeaten 55, finishing off with a six. Malik and Hafeez put on 75 runs in 63 balls where Malik’s contribution was only 14 runs. Earlier in the inning wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Chandimal played a much needed inning when the home team was in trouble with an unbeaten 65. Chandimal along with skipper Angelo Mathews added 82 runs in 94 balls for the 5th wicket as they bailed out Sri Lanka from a sorry situation of 118-4. Debutant Milinda Siriwardene impressed with a 21 ball 22 runs while putting up a 40 runs partnership along with Chandimal for the 7th wicket.
Tillekaratne Dilshan was lucky early on as he was caught behind off a no ball by Mohammad Irfan in the third over, but failed to capitalize as he was dismissed for an unusual 65 balls 38.

Scores

Sri Lanka:
K. Perera c Rizwan b Hafeez 26
T. Dilshan b Hafeez 38
L. Thirimanne c Sarfraz b Anwar 23
U. Tharanga st Sarfraz b Hafeez 20
A. Mathews c Azam b Yasir 38
D. Chandimal not out 65
T. Perera c Rizwan b Hafeez 01
M. Siriwardana c Rizwan b Rahat 22
S. Prasanna c Hafeez b Rahat 00
L. Malinga not out 4
Extras: (b4, lb7, w6, nb1) 18
Total (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 255
Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-82, 3-111, 4-118, 5-200, 6-204, 7-244 (Siriwardana), 8-245.
Bowling: Irfan 10-0-41-0, Rahat 8-0-44-2, Anwar 7-0-38-1, Hafeez 10-1-41-4, Yasir 10-0-46-1, Malik 5-0-34-0

Scores

Pakistan:
A. Ali c Chandimal b Mathews 21
A. Shehzad c Chandimal b Lakmal 29
M. Hafeez c and b T. Perera 103
B. Azam lbw b Dilshan 25
S. Malik not out 55
M. Rizwan not out 20
Extras: (lb1, w5) 06
Total (for four wickets, 45.2 overs) 259
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-65, 3-123, 4-198.
Bowling: Malinga 8-0-56-0 (w5), Lakmal 5-1-21-1, T. Perera 8-0-32-1, Mathews 5-0-22-1, Prasanna 9-0-72-0, Dilshan 8.2-0-45-1, Siriwardana 2-0-10-0.