Sarfraz sees shaky Pakistan into semi-finals
Pakistan huffed and puffed through a chase of 237 but they made it in the end thanks to the composure of their captain
Pakistan huffed and puffed through a chase of 237 but they made it in the end thanks to the composure of their captain
Scorer: Sanjay Murari | Commentator: Varun Shetty
6.45pm That's it from us today. What. A. Match. Sporadic displays of awesome skill, tucked in between long periods of ordinary cricket - that's the formula for an exciting cricket game. Two groups of players got it right today. And we hope you enjoyed how we called it. On behalf of Shashank and Sanjay - good night, folks. See you for the semi-final.
Semi-final line-up:
1: England v Pakistan at Cardiff, June 14
2: Bangladesh v India at Edgbaston, June 15
Sunny: "This predictably unpredictable Pakistan team has once again unpredictably gone on to win the match after a predictable collapse with some unpredictable batting from Amir. Great to see the lower order perform.
ABAE: "These situations are probably why Sarfaraz bats so low... Thank God they pulled through today. "
Sabbir Chowdhury: "This Champions Trophy has seen some of the memorable partnerships in ODI cricket. Today, we've seen a wonderful partnership which saw them home. Formidable!"
MIKE RAM: "Have to spare a thought for Malinga a Champion for SL. He had 3 dropped catches off his bowling and a few misfields. Had SL taken their catches they could have gone thru to the Semis. "
Sharmalie Wickr: "In all honesty, it was a game of who played less worse! My team just did not show up. #disappointed"
saamai: "2 flawed teams played a super flawed match. In the end the experience (being flawed for longer time) prevailed."
Ali Raza: "Thank God it's over. Lots of finger nails must be hurting. Ew!"
Mathews: A see-saw kind of a game. Credit should go to Pakistan. They held their nerves and are deserved winners. it was a bit of a funny wicket. We hadn't got the runs on the board but we knew we could defend this. And the bowlers did their job, but we didn't hold on to our catches. Proud of the boys. Even though we only had 236 to defend, they gave it their all. Unfortunately, we missed a few chances. In a big tournament like this, they fought hard an inexperienced team. I'm proud of them.
Sarfraz: First of all, thanks to the Almighty. I can't believe it. Thanks to Amir, he played really well. I jus told him to play his game and not to worry about the score. That if we took it to the 40th over we would win. Drop catches are part of the game. Allah helped us and that's why Pakistan won today.
Sarfraz is the Man of the Match.
6.30pm A yelling, screaming Sarfraz sprints towards Mohammad Amir and embraces him. Mickey Arthur, who was summoning all his spirituality for the last hour, leaps off his seat in the pavilion. We don't even know what Malinga's face looks like right now, but that won't be a hard guess, will it? Thisara Perera will be a haunted man. How do you live down something like this? A remarkable comeback from Pakistan where there never should have been one. But you can argue that Sri Lanka should never have been in the game after their own collapse. It was their tail that stretched the score and it was Pakistan's that snatched the victory.
Forlorn, stretching his hamstring, is Malinga. Those eyes have seen happier days
Farhad Aslam: "On 60th birthday of the greatest street fighter in cricket, another street fighter from Karachi is showing the glimpses of Miandad."
Malinga. Back for one last heartbreak? Silly mid-on in place.
Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been so strikingly inconsistent in their respective campaigns that it opens up a host of possibilities when they clash in a must-win in Cardiff
Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Amir rescued Pakistan with an unbeaten 75-run stand for the eighth wicket
Three glaring dropped catches off the bowling of Lasith Malinga were pivotal as Sri Lanka's "pathetic" fielding cost them a semi-final place
Just as Pakistan and their fans seemed about to dissolve into a nerve-induced puddle, Sri Lanka decided to outdo them
He had bowled one of the spells of the tournament and then Pakistan stumbled so spectacularly that he had to pull off heroics with the bat too