simply awesome performance by Pakistan under captaincy of Misbah who proved to be a great finisher. S Lanka from the very first ball were playing for the draw and their negative approach cost them to lost the match.
Credit goes to all batsmen and bowlers but Abdul Rehman bowls very nice spell and restrict Lankans to 214.
Pakistan Zindabaad
Vinod Pathiyal: “FINALLY!!! Misbah made it! What a pretty innings from Azhar Ali too!!! My heart goes out for both of them. Well, Sri Lanka this time was negative in their whole approach that I had to shift my support radars to Pakistan Quite happy”
kashif: “pak won the hearts of millions of peoples but sri lanka lost there lot of fans by showing that kind of attitude…”
Remember when the day started, Lanka were effectively 220/5, they still had FIVE wickets in hand. So to dismiss them cheaply and then score 302 at 5.25 RPO was a truly fantastic effort by the team.
UNREAL....just woke up and saw the result..obviously missed a historic match...this has been by far the most unbelievable victory in our cricket history!
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Blade-Runner on cricinfo
Posted by Blade-Runner on (January 20, 2014, 9:37
GMT)
To be honest, this is way funnier than comedy
central. lol 2 wickets down already. lol Pakistan are in the process of batting themselves out. lol I think that they have taken the bait. Mathews, you are a genius !!!! Btw, where are all the people who questioned Mathews' strategies?? lol Probably watching BigBash..
[/QUOTE]
Misbah did it, I was thinking of light issue and umpires might call it off, but it worked out perfectly in the end. SL captaincy was really bad, you could see the faces of Sangakara and Jaywardene!
Azhar should never have been dropped in favor of Hafeez. In fact, Azhar needs to be drafted in the one day squad, he has an excellent ODI record as well. Talha looked good and should persisted instead of Rahat/Gul/Tanvir etc. Rehman belongs in tests. Besides Asad Shafiq, the squad looks good at the moment. Shafiq has been a prolonged failure in tests and ODI, his average is poor. Fawad Alam should be given a couple of series as he has a good average and can bowl a bit too.
Sarfraz hitting, Awesome;
Misbah-ul-Haq running and initiative, Magnificent;
Azhar Ali Century, Priceless!
Thank you for playing like you did in the 90s, Champions!
Some interesting stats related to Pakistan's historic victory vs SriLanka:
Pakistan's run rate of 5.25 runs per over is the best in the world in the 4th inning of a won test (where target was 300+). The previous best was 5.19 by the West Indies during their innings of 344/1 from 66.1 overs v England at Lord's in June 1984.
302/5 is Pakistan's second highest score in a winning cause in the 4th innings of a Test, next only to the 315/9 v Australia at Karachi in September 1994.
Misbah-ul-Haq's batting average (258.00) as captain in 4th innings is the highest in all time Test history!
Pakistan played 57.3 overs today without playing a maiden, Now a WORLD RECORD. Previous best was 43 overs by West Indies against England in 3rd innings of 5th test at Antigua in 1986.
Azhar Ali's batting strike rate of 75.18 is the best among Pakistan batsmen who scored a CENTURY in the 4th innings of a won test match.
Misbah-ul-Haq's batting strike rate of 94.44 is the best among Pakistan batsmen who scored a 50 or more in the 4th innings of a won test match.
Misbah and Azhar Ali added 109 runs at Run Rate of 5.49 the 5th highest RR in a test century partnership for Pakistan. If you consider the century partnerships for Pakistan in won tests, then this is 2nd quickest after Inzamam-ul-Haq and Taufeeq Umar's 180 runs at the Run Rate of 5.65 vs Zimbabwe at Harare in November 2002.
Misbah's strike rate of 94.44 is his best in a Test innings of 50 or more.
Quite happy”