The demons of chasing under lights, and the magical spell cast by Thisara Perera earlier in the series, returned to haunt Pakistan in Colombo last night as the tourists never recovered from losing four wickets in an over to lose the 4th One-Day International by 44 runs.
In control at 166 for two in the 38th over, chasing 244 to take a lead in the five-match series, Pakistan lost Misbah for 57. They then went onto lose six more wickets for the addition of just 13 runs. Perera, who took six wickets in the second match, grabbed his maiden hat-trick and the sorry scorecard showed six ducks to depict a poor chase under lights.
Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara scored 97 and Mahela Jayawardene made 40 to lead Sri Lanka revival after a slow start. In reply, Azhar Ali scored an unbeaten 81 but failed to stop his teammates from committing suicide on the pitch which leaves their side trailing 2-1.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2012.
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