Pakistan chase 183 in Rawalpindi as Khawaja Nafay hits the winning six with seven balls left

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in the first Twenty20 international at Rawalpindi on Friday, chasing 183 with seven balls to spare. Sri Lanka made 182 for 8 in their 20 overs. Pakistan finished on 187 for 6 in 18.5 overs. Khawaja Nafay hit the last ball of the chase, a six over long-on off Eshan Malinga, and did not wait to see it land. Pakistan lead the three-match series 1-0.

Sri Lanka's 182

Lahiru Udara scored 91 off 55 balls, more than half of Sri Lanka's total by himself. Kamindu Mendis made 23 off 18. Naseem Shah took 3 for 36 in four overs. Mohammad Imran took 2 for 21 in four. A total of 182 in Rawalpindi in October is a defendable score if the new ball moves and the death bowlers hit a length. It is not a defendable score if the top order of the chase gets past the first six overs. Udara's 91 set the target. The rest of the card did not add a second long innings, which left Pakistan a rate of just over nine an over, not twelve.

The chase

Sahibzada Farhan made 89 off 53. Maaz Sadaqat made 50 off 29. Those two innings did the bulk of the work. Eshan Malinga took 2 for 33 in 3.5 overs, including the wicket that fell in the final over before Nafay's six. Maheesh Theekshana took 2 for 36 in four. At the end of the 18.5 overs Pakistan's run rate was 9.93. Nafay, on 12 off 7 when he faced the last ball, finished the game with one shot. Mohammad Imran was at the other end on 0 off 2, so the lower order did not have to bat the death in any meaningful way.

The sequence of that final over, as the ball-by-ball record has it, included a six, a leg bye, a dot, a wicket and a single before Nafay's six. A wicket in the last over with the rate still inside a boundary is the moment a chase of this size usually tightens. It did not. The next scoring shot was the one that ended the match.

What 1-0 means in a three-match series

Rawalpindi in early October can play differently from ball to ball once dew arrives, which is why a chase of 183 succeeding does not by itself describe the pitch. The useful split is between the two main batters on each side. Udara's 91 off 55 and Farhan's 89 off 53 are almost the same innings played in opposite orders. Pakistan had a second fifty, from Sadaqat. Sri Lanka's next best was 23. That gap, not the seven balls left, is why 182 was short.

Naseem's 3 for 36 is the bowling return Pakistan will want repeated in the second match. Theekshana's 2 for 36 is the return Sri Lanka will want from spin if they bowl second again. The series moves on with the home side one up, a death six already in the highlights, and no evidence yet that either top order is struggling for runs on this ground.