Afridi, Anwar Ali stun SL with one-wicket win

Pakistan 174 for 9 (Anwar 46, Afridi 45) beat Sri Lanka 172 for 7 (Kapugedera 48*, Jayasuriya 40) by one wicket

Shahid Afridi put Pakistan's chase back on track after they were 40 for 5

Anwar Ali, Pakistan's No. 9 batsman, waltzed into the belly of a baying Premadasa with 66 required from 35 balls, and produced a cataclysmic 46 from 17 balls, to help prise stunning victory from the clutches of almost-certain defeat. He brought the chase to sudden life when he plundered two sixes and a four off debutant Shehan Jayasuriya in the 17th over, before treating Thisara Perera and Lasith Malinga with almost as much disdain to send Pakistan to within eight runs of victory.

Malinga had Anwar caught behind in the penultimate over, and another wicket would also fall two balls later, but Imad Wasim was on hand to provide the finish. Binura Fernando had the task of defending six runs in the final over, but Mohammad Irfan pinched a single first ball, then Wasim socked the next delivery over the wide long-on rope to spark celebrations in the Pakistan camp.

Long before even Anwar's innings, Pakistan appeared to be tumbling to a heavy loss at 40 for 5 in the eighth over. It had been Shahid Afridi's brutal 22-ball 45 that lit the flame that Anwar stoked into the inferno that devoured Sri Lanka. The hosts have now lost all three series in this tour, though in mitigation, they were fielding six players with two T20 international caps or fewer, in this match.