SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates , 5 November — Pace trio Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis shared eight wickets as Pakistan took the Khaleej Times Trophy with a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the final yesterday.
What was expected to be a one-sided game after Sri Lanka were shot out for 173, suddenly came to life when Pakistan were themselves reduced to 138 for five in the 37th over.
The sixth-wicket pair of Abdur Razzaq and Rashid Latif, however, delighted a sell-out crowd of 22,000 at the Sharjah cricket stadium by steering Pakistan home with 38 balls to spare.
Waqar Younis, celebrating his first tournament win as Pakistan captain, received a crystal trophy sponsored by a Dubai-based newspaper group and the winners check of $120,000.
Sri Lanka, denied a hat trick of titles at this desert venue, earned $80,000 for their efforts. Zimbabwe, who lost all their four league matches, received $50,000.
The win was set up by the Pakistani bowlers, who took advantage of Sri Lanka’s reckless batting to bowl out their rivals in 44.2 overs. Tearaway Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar led the Pakistani assault with three wickets each, while Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi picked up two each. The top four Sri Lankan batsmen gifted their wickets by attempting to cut balls outside the off-stump, giving Pakistani wicketkeeper Rashid Latif four catches in the innings. Pakistan faced similar batting blues even after Afridi and Naveed Latif put on 45 for the first wicket.
Naveed, who hit a century against the same attack on Friday, made 23 when was caught behind trying to guide Prabhath Nissanka to third man. Afridi smashed Muthiah Muralitharan’s first ball for a six, but fell four balls later when he holed out to mid-wicket after making 35 off 38 balls.
Yousuf Youhanna (40) and Younis Khan were also dismissed by Muralitharan, who ended his 10-over quota, conceding just 22 runs. Left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas returned for his second spell to trap Inzamam-ul Haq leg-before for 28 and leave Pakistan’s fate to the lower order.
Earlier, Russel Arnold top-scored for Sri Lanka with 47 off 51 balls, but the rest of the batsmen had themselves to blame for the poor total.
Pakistan’s seasoned new ball attack of Akram and Waqar removed Marvan Atapattu and Avishka Gunawardena cheaply to reduce Sri Lanka to 21-2 in the ninth over. Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardena put on 58 for the third wicket, but undid the good work by throwing away their wickets with rash shots.
Jayasuriya, who made 34, edged a slash outside the off-stump against Afridi to be caught behind, one ball after flicking his fifth boundary to the fine-leg fence.
Jaywardena, who began by hooking Akhtar for six, fell to the same bowler for 43, nibbling at a ball pitched outside the off-stump that would have been called a wide. Kumar Sangakkara too did not learn from Jayasuriya’s dismissal, trying to cut Afridi, only to see the edge land in Latif’s safe gloves.
