Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

Salman Agha
Salman Agha
107(90) 10x4 - 1x6
Control %90%
  • Productive Shot
  • cover drive
  • 19 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
20 12 10 7 11 16 13 18
P Rathnayake
79(74) 6x4 - 2x6
Control %89%
  • Productive Shot
  • pull
  • 24 runs
  • 2x4 - 2x6
5 0 15 11 18 8 3 19

Best performances - Bowlers

E Malinga
O9.5
M1
R46
W4
Eco4.67
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
1W
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Shaheen Shah Afridi
O10
M0
R55
W3
Eco5.5
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
2W

Match Details

Toss

Sri Lanka , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

13.00 start, First Session 13.00-16.30, Interval 16.30-17.00, Second Session 17.00-20.30

Match days

18 October 2026 - day/night match (50-over match)

ODI debut

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Points

Pakistan 2, Sri Lanka 0

Scorer: Vairavan K & Thilak Ram | Commentator: Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi

And that concludes our coverage of this game. Join us on Tuesday for the second match of this tri-nation series between Pakistan and England. Until then it is goodbye from our side.

Shaheen Afridi: We wanted to bat first at winning the toss. We were looking to score beyond 300 and Agha batted well. I was happy to see how Saad Baig batted and Hasan Nawaz stitched partnership with Agha. The wickets are good for fast bowlers in this series and all the fast bowling were talking to each other about how the pitch was behaving and making plans accordingly.

Kusal Mendis: I think we needed to be a little bit more positive with the bat in the powerplay. Our bowlers bowled really well in the last 10 overs and they bowling unit did really well. But I think I took a little bit more balls in the powerplay because of which we struggled early on. Only a couple of guys did not score runs and we made small mistakes after the 40th over, otherwise Rathnayake and Liyanage put up a good partnership. We need to learn from the mistakes in this match.

Salman Ali Agha is the player of the match: II did not have any other option [but to go back to domestic cricket and perform after what happened in the last two months]. I struggled in those series [England and West Indies] but did not struggle before them. I did not have much time [to improve on my batting so I went to domestic cricket]. These times come on you as a cricketer. But all I thought about was going back to the domestic game and make things right, which I did and it has paid off today. The ball was coming really nicely and I spoke to Hasan Nawaz that we both need to build partnership. We both bat aggressively and if we build a partnership we will score beyond 300. I did not want to take risk and for that I had to run hard. I was trying to hit the ball in the pockets and take singles. The outfield was a bit slow which is uncharacteristic of this venue and because of it I had to run hard.

M. Wasif: "The ODI tried series reminds me of the 90's and early before the advent of T20. Colored clothing. Flood lights. Points system. Nostalgic." -- They need to bring back bonus points

Hadeed: "This felt like a classic ODI match that used to be played back in 2010-2015. Like, score 300 odd runs and you're the favourite." -- It perhaps has to do more with the quality of the Lankan batting

That Pakistan propelled past 300 was because of an excellent innings from Agha as he scored his fourth ODI century. What made it more crucial was in the context in which it had come. This was Agha's first international match after being dumped from the Test squad mid-England tour and his sacking as the T20I captain, but the batter did not let any of the off-field controversies effect his game as he remained calm and composed throughout his innings.

Sri Lanka's shot selection in this match will dominate their post-match debriefing for sure. Especially how Rathnayake, Liyanage, and Shanaka threw their wickets away in crunch moments.

This is quite an encouraging bowling performance from Pakistan's pace quartlet to win this game in conditions which were getting hostile for fast bowling with outfield getting wet because of dew and no reverse swing on offer. They broke the century stand between Rathnayake and Liyanage, which was threatening to take the game away from Pakistan, after the hosts had made a strong start with early wickets in the run chase.

48.1
W
Haris Rauf to AM Fernando, OUT, That's it! Pakistan wrap up the game and win the first match of the tri-nation series by 37 runs. Rauf angles the length ball from over the wicket towards the top of off and rattles the stumps as the batter misses a dab towards deep third

AM Fernando b Haris Rauf 7 (13m 10b 1x4 0x6) SR: 70

END OF OVER:
48 | 5 Runs | SL: 268/9 (38 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.58, RRR: 19.00)

  • Asitha Fernando7 (9b)
  • Dilshan Madushanka1 (5b)
  • Naseem Shah10-0-43-2
  • Haris Rauf9-0-48-1
47.6
1
Naseem Shah to AM Fernando, 1 run, Backs away to carve the full delivery into stumps towards deep cover point
47.5
0
Naseem Shah to AM Fernando, no run, bangs the cutter on length which bounces over the stumps as he misses another heave down the ground

Fawad: "Good captaincy from Shaheen Shah. He didn't wait until the death overs, but brought himself and Naseem in earlier in the last 10 overs against settled Sri Lankan batsmen and gave the breakthrough."

47.4
0
Naseem Shah to AM Fernando, no run, Backs away to flat bat the length ball down the ground but doesn't connect
47.3
4
Naseem Shah to AM Fernando, FOUR, Oh! How did that miss the stump?! Backs away and throws his bat on the yorker and it races to the fine leg boundary off the inside edge.
47.2
0
Naseem Shah to AM Fernando, no run, That's a nasty blow! Moves the leg side and Naseem follows him with a short-pitched delivery. Takes his eyes of the ball and the ball smashes into his front shoulder

Sri Lanka 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st30WIA FernandoPHKD Mendis
2nd36BKG MendisPHKD Mendis
3rd17PHKD MendisP Rathnayake
4th8SSD ArachchigeP Rathnayake
5th119J LiyanageP Rathnayake
6th43MD ShanakaJ Liyanage
7th3MD ShanakaS Colombage
8th4S ColombageE Malinga
9th0AM FernandoE Malinga
10th8AM FernandoD Madushanka