By Susil Premalal

Wasim Razeek’s four goals gave Sri Lanka a thrilling 4-4 draw against the Maldives in the opening match of the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Trophy at the Racecourse Grounds in Reid Avenue yesterday. 

Sri Lanka were trailing 3-4 deep into second-half added time, when the ball fell to Razeek inside the six yard box off a corner kick, and he was the quickest to react to poke the ball into the goal, sparking wild celebrations among the home team players. 

All four of Sri Lanka’s goals came from the boot of Razeek, in the last 30 minutes of the match.

Already trailing 0-3 at half-time, Sri Lanka found themselves in an even bigger hole, and heading towards a severe drubbing against the 2018 SAFF champions, when they conceded a fourth goal in the 50th minute. 

But Sri Lanka put together an exciting final 30 minutes, with Razeek scoring an eight-minute hat-trick, between the 63rd and 71st minutes. 

He then found himself in the right place at the right time to score the equalizer in the dying stages of the matches. 

The last time the two teams met, a month ago at the SAFF Championships in the Maldives, Sri Lanka lost 1-0. 

Earlier, the visitors made their intentions clear from kick-off and scored three goals in the first half through Akram Abdul Ghanee (8th minute), Ali Fasir (10th minute) and Ibrahim Hussain (34th minute).

The Maldives then put themselves on course for an easy victory as they struck a fourth goal in the 58th minute with Ali Ashfaq adding the finishing touches to a move initiated from their own territory.

Hat-trick hero Razeek won the man of the match award.

Main photo: Wasim Razeek scored four goals