43.4 overs Pakistan 177 for 5 (Yousuf Youhana 40*, M Muralitharan 3 for 22) beat Sri Lanka 173 all out (R Arnold 47, M Jayawardene 43, Waqar Younis 3 for 31, Shoaib Akhtar 3 for 33) by five wickets
Scorecard

Pakistan fought off a late Sri Lankan resurgence to take the Khaleej Times Trophy with a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the final. Chasing 173, Pakistan were coasting along at 122 for 2, when Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan and Inzamam-ul-Haq departed within 16 runs, and at 138 for 5, Sri Lanka were back in the game. However, with Muttiah Muralitharan having completed his magical spell (10-2-22-3), and Chaminda Vaas bowled out as well, Sri Lanka lacked the firepower to sneak past the Pakistan lower order. Rashid Latif sealed the win with a pull to the square leg fence off Buddika Fernando.

Pakistan though were the superior side for more than three-quarters of the match. Their pace trio of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar ran through Sri Lanka's batting with collective figures of 8 for 84 off 24.2 overs. Mahela Jayawardene, with a classy 43, and Russel Arnold (47) showed signs of resistance, but a total of 173 was never likely to be enough on this placid batting surface.

Sri Lanka got off to a slow start after winning the toss. The first seven overs produced only 13 runs for the loss of Avishka Gunawardene, who fell edging a perfect ball from Waqar Younis to second slip.

Akram joined in the wicket-taking act, when Marvan Atapattu snicked an attempted square drive to wicketkeeper Rashid Latif.

Sri Lanka were struggling at 21 for 2 when Jayawardene took control briefly and showed some of the sublime batting skills which have made him such an exciting strokemaker. Shoaib's first two overs went for 17, and Sri Lanka had recovered to reach 55 for 2 after 15 overs.

Both teams reverted to the percentages game once the fielding restrictions were lifted. Just as the cricket was getting monotonous, Jayasuriya got out, nicking an attempted square cut off Afridi. It was a strangely subdued innings from him – 34 off 58 balls. His partnership with Jayawardene was the only substantial one of the innings, 58 in 13 overs.

Jayawardene, meanwhile, was on cruise control and eying a big score when he flailed at a wide ball from Shoaib and got a thin edge to Rashid Latif. He had made 43.

Sri Lanka lost Kumara Sangakkara soon after, caught behind off another a delivery from Afridi that would surely have been called wide had Sangakkara not obliginly nicked it.

Russel Arnold had batted sensibly, as is his wont, even as the rest of the middle order caved in. But Wasim Akram came back for a new spell and struck the all-important blow with an inswinging yorker that struck Arnold on the pad. Replays suggested umpire Rudi Koertzen had erred again as the late swing would almost certainly have carried the ball past leg stump.

Pakistan took the remaining four wickets for only 21 runs to leave themselves with a great chance of winning the match.

Pakistan started their run-chase confidently, knocking off 73 in the first 15 overs for the loss of two wickets. Fresh from his century against the same team a couple of days back, Naved Latif looked good again, with some blistering square cuts and pulls. His impetuosity led to his downfall, though. After he'd hit Prabath Nissanka for two fours, he attempted another, and nicked to the keeper.

Afridi was remarkably restrained, but Muralitharan's entry changed all that. He smote him for a six off his first ball, but fell three balls later, holing out to deep midwicket.

Murali struck again to outfox Yousuf Youhana with a beautifully tossed-up delivery, which went straight on with the arm. Youhana tried to turn the ball to leg, got a leading edge and the bowler gleefully held on to the catch.

Younis Khan followed in Murali's last over. Already frustrated by his inability to read Murali's straighter one, Younis charged down the track, and the ball went off the outer part of his bat to long off. Avishka Gunawardene took the catch and Pakistan were 130 for 4.

That soon became 138 for 5 when Inzamam-ul-Haq was trapped on the move by Chaminda Vaas. Replays suggested that George Sharp had got it wrong – the ball pitched on leg stump, hit him in front of off, and would have gone past the stumps.

Abdur Razzaq was joined by Rashid Latif with 36 still to get, and they survived a few anxious moments. Razzaq edged one past his leg stump, mistimed a pull which fell agonisingly close to the bowler Vaas, and had a close run out call.

However, Razzaq eased the pressure with a fluent straight drive off Sanath Jayasuriya and a fine leg-glance in Vaas' next over. Latif joined in the act with a fine tickle for four, and the target had suddenly been whittled down to 12.

S Rajesh is a sub-editor at Wisden.com India

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