ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 Rizwan, Shafique hit tons as Pakistan complete record run chase

Abdullah Shafique

By Champika Fernando in Hyderabad

Sri Lanka’s feeble bowling attack was well and truly exposed as Pakistan staged a remarkable fight to register a record run-chase and win by six wickets in their second World Cup fixture here at the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad last night.

This is the highest-ever successful run chase in a World Cup game, surpassing Ireland’s 329 to beat England by three wickets during the 2011 World Cup. 

The defeat was a hard pill to swallow for the Sri Lankans, who had put themselves in a strong position to clinch a maiden victory in this World Cup with a string of good batting performances after electing to bat first. The defeat was their second successive following last week’s 102-run thrashing by the South Africans, who scored a World Cup record target of 428 in Delhi.

A swashbuckling effort from Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrema took Sri Lanka to an imposing 344-9. All they needed, then, was to bowl at good lines and lengths to contain the free-scoring Pakistan batters. Instead, their below-par bowling helped the Pakistanis to an improbable victory, chasing a massive 345 to win with 10 balls to spare. 
Pakistan’s victory was set up by Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan, who shared an imposing second wicket stand of 176 runs off 156 balls after left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka made two early breakthroughs to remove Iman Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam.

Maheesh Theekshana, who was brought into the game after injury, was economical with the ball and struck late in the innings, removing Saud Shakeel, who had shared 95 runs for the 4th wicket with Rizwan. By then, however, the horse had already bolted, breaking the hearts of the Sri Lankans. Matheesha Pathirana went for plenty once again, giving away 90 runs, including 18 wides, the most expensive among the Sri Lankan bowlers.

However, the threatening stand came to an end when Nissanka cut a short ball from Shadab Khan straight to Abdullah Shafique at point to take the long walk back to the dressing room with disappointment written all over his face. The pair added 102 runs for the second wicket, and it came off just 94 balls.

Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrema then continued the onslaught with an 111-run stand for the third wicket before Hasan Ali accounted for Mendis’s wicket, his third in the match.
Samarawickrema, the stylish right-hander, shouldered the responsibility after Mendis’s dismissal and reached his maiden ODI century off 82 balls. He stitched a 66-ball, 65-run fifth-wicket stand with Dhananjaya de Silva (25). When he was finally dismissed, caught behind off Ali, he had scored 108 runs off 89 balls with 11 boundaries and two sixes. Though Samarawickrema did not have the power that Mendis displayed, there was class written all over Samarawickrema’s knock.

Pakistan did well to pull things back in their favour during the last 10 overs, giving away just 61 runs and claiming five wickets to end Sri Lanka’s inning on 344.