Rizwan 131*, Shafique 113 complete record World Cup chase

Sri Lanka were served a harsh lesson in the realities of modern ODI cricket, as Pakistan hunted down a target of 345 - the highest-ever chase in a World Cup - with six wickets to spare. Leading their charge were tons from Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan, which trumped a pair of centuries by Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama, to make it two wins from two for Pakistan. Rizwan, who experienced on occasion apparently crippling spasms - the physio came and took a gander at him two times - for the last 15 overs or so of the pursuit, stayed unbeaten eventually on a 121-ball 131. Along with Shafique - who himself recorded the most elevated score by a Pakistan debutant at a World Cup with his 113 off 103 - he had assembled a third-wicket stand worth 176 off only 156 conveyances. It was a stand that would break the spine of the pursuit, however and still, at the end of the day it probably won't have been enough had Rizwan himself not boldly stayed close by till the end. He would put on a further 95 off 68 with Saud Shakeel, and afterward 37 off 23 with Iftikhar Ahmed, as Pakistan at last loped home to a success that will give them a gigantic certainty support in front of Saturday's enormous conflict against India. With respect to Sri Lanka, it's two losses in as many games, and in the wake of surrendering north of 750 stumbles into two matches there will be developing worries over their bowlers' capacities in taking care of such player cordial tracks. Regardless of having Maheesh Theekshana back in the side, Sri Lanka looked deprived of thoughts on the most proficient method to get wickets through the center overs, or even without a doubt how to smother the scoring. Yet again theekshana, Dunith Wellalage and Dilshan Madushanka, who were the most efficient of the parcel, went for 59, 62 and 60 each, while Matheesha Pathirana demonstrated costly being taken for 90 of every nine overs. Pakistan were likewise sharp in guaranteeing they benefited from Sri Lanka's need to satisfy their fifth bowler amount. While Dasun Shanaka went for only 28 in his five overs, Dhananjaya de Silva was taken for 36 of every four and Charith Asalanka 10 in his single over. Pakistan however will be satisfied at how the pursuit was achieved. They were meticulous in the initial 10 overs, with Sri Lanka having gotten two wickets, and kept the score to only 48. Nonetheless, with the information they had power hitters, for example, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar and Mohammed Nawaz lower down the request, both Shafique and Rizwan were content to play themselves in. All things being equal, between overs 10-20 the pair took 62 runs, before truly raising the stakes through the center period. From the overs 20-30 they would score a further 72 runs and afterward would loot 99 from the 30th to the 40th, leaving a truly gettable 74 off the last 60 conveyances. Shafique's control level of 91% recounted a story, as he seldom gave the Sri Lankan bowlers a sniff, jumping on anything short and unafraid to utilize his feet when essential. It would take a flat out scorcher at in reverse point by substitute Dushan Hemantha, in for Kusal Mendis who was off the field with serious issues, to dispose of him. Luckily for Pakistan however, they had a fighter in Rizwan at the opposite finish to guarantee the pursuit would be finished like a well-oiled machine. Sri Lanka however will regret a botched an open door to take care of the game with the bat, with Shanaka conceding after the game that they were most likely 30 runs low. For sure, having won the throw and chose for bat first, for a significant part of the Sri Lankan innings this seemed like the batting execution that Sri Lanka had long taken steps to assemble. Against both Afghanistan and Bangladesh in the warm-ups they had discarded promising beginnings, while against South Africa they had given looks at what their batting line-up was prepared to do. The following stage however was putting it through and through, and for huge pieces of their innings, it looked Sri Lanka would at long last do precisely that. While Sri Lanka's battles at the passing and, surprisingly, through the center are legitimate - they've just struck 12 scores over 300 since the finish of the 2019 World Cup - yet in Hyderabad they batted like a side that had done this multiple times previously. Across their 50 overs, hardly did the scoring rate dip under seven an over - for periods in any event, contacting 7.5. A lot of that was down to Mendis, who carried on from where he had left off against South Africa - well not precisely, he struck at just 158.44 this break - as he practically independently overwhelmed a strangely unpolished Pakistan assault. With both Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali bowling reliably in the low 130s or lower, any early swing - something Mendis has been viewed as needing against previously - was haggled no sweat. Across his time at the wrinkle, hardly an over went by without a limit. Truth be told, from the point he showed up halfway through the second finished, and until his excusal in the 29th, just six overs did without basically a limit being scored. Of the bowlers, just Iftikhar Ahmed dealt with any sort of progress against Mendis, going for six runs in eight conveyances, yet Mendis struck at over 140 against each of the five of different bowlers used. Close by him, Samarawickrama was conveying along like he has for a significant part of the year since breaking into the Sri Lankan side. He poked around ones and twos, utilized his feet to the spinners - a back to front drive off Nawaz for six, especially hanging out in the memory - and worked the holes skillfully to find limits when required. Samarawickrama and Mendis together set up 111 off only 69 conveyances, the second successive century stand of the innings following Mendis' 102 with Pathum Nissanka. Yet again when Mendis fell, with the score on 218 with only 29 overs bowled, Sri Lanka would have been looking at 350 at any rate, however those plans would turn out badly. Charith Asalanka, who had kept Sri Lanka in the game against South Africa, scratched one through only eight balls later. This was then trailed by a five-over period in which only 18 runs were scored which smothered their force; overs 30-40 would get 54 runs all out. Be that as it may, where Pakistan would cause the genuine harm was in the last 10, where Sri Lanka oversaw only 61 runs, including the last three overs which went for only 13. It's a good representative for the effectiveness at which Samarawickrama and Mendis had batted all through those center overs that they actually got to 344 - their most noteworthy against a Full Part country beginning around 2020 - yet those are the edges at play here, something Sri Lanka should address quickly assuming they are to keep their generally thin semi-last expectations alive. Pakistan 345 for 4 (Rizwan 131*, Shafique 113, Madushanka 2-60) beat Sri Lanka 344 for 9 (Mendis 122, Samarawickrama 108, Hasan Ali 4-71) by six wickets