Salman Agha, Haris Rauf star as Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six runs in first ODI

Wanindu Hasaranga fights lone battle as Sri Lanka collapse chasing target of 300

Salman Ali Agha cracked a brilliant century and Haris Rauf took four wickets to help Pakistan win the opening one-day international against Sri Lanka by six runs in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

Despite the fall of early wickets, Sri Lanka put up a brave fight with Wanindu Hasaranga standing on the pitch only to see others fall in succession while chasing a target of 300 runs set by Pakistan thanks to a phenomenal innings by Salman Agha.

The most fruitful partnership for the visitors proved to be the opening pair of Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara but everything went downhill once they were dismissed by Rauf in his spell.

Agha scored an unbeaten 105 off 87 balls for his second ODI century while Hussain Talat made 62, lifting the home team from a precarious 95-4 after they were sent in to bat. He was declared the Player of the Match for his second ODI century.

"I just wanted to be in the present and play on the ball's merit. That worked. The partnership with Hussain set the tone. We were in bit of a dig so we wanted to take the game on. It was not easy to bat against the new ball but we wanted to play our shots and also take our singles and twos. The running between us was the highlight of the partnership. After 35 overs, Hussain and I were set so we wanted to take the game on. We knew if we take 7-8 per over till over 40, then we have Nawaz later, and Faheem after. So we knew we can score 100 in the last ten so we wanted to take it deep," he was quoted by Cricinfo.

Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga had jolted the home team with figures of 3-54, before Agha and Talat added 138 for the fifth wicket to revive the innings.

Talat was finally dismissed in the 44th over, having hit a six and six fours in his maiden ODI fifty.

Agha struck nine boundaries, helping Pakistan add 104 in the last 10 overs alongside Mohammad Nawaz who scored a brisk 23-ball 36 not out.

It was pacer Asitha Fernando who provided the tourists a breakthrough in the fifth over when he trapped opener Saim Ayub leg-before for six.

Fakhar Zaman (32) and Babar Azam (29) added 54 runs for the second wicket as Pakistan crawled to 28 in the first 10 overs and finally reached 50 in the 16th.

Hasaranga then produced a 16-ball spell of destruction, removing Zaman, Azam and Mohammad Rizwan (five).

The match went ahead despite a suicide attack just a few miles from the stadium in the twin city of Islamabad, which killed at least 12 people and left several injured.

The Pakistan Cricket Board said security around the visiting team had been increased following the attack.