Sri Lanka beat Pakistan to lift T20 Canada Cup

Sanath Jayasuriya and Ajantha Mendis guided Sri Lanka to defeat Pakistan to lift the inaugural T20 Canada Cup at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club ground here Monday.

First Mendis took the important wickets of Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Aklam at crucial moments to restrict Pakistan to 132 for seven, getting him the Man of the Match award.

Later, Jayasuriya got his team off to a brilliant start to reach the 133-run target, with five wickets and an over to spare.

Thousands of Pakistani supporters cheered as Salman Butt dispatched the first delivery from Farveez Mahroof for four after Mahela Jayawardene chose to field after winning the toss. However, a hush fell over them when Dilhara Fernando bowled Shoaib Khan Jr from the other end for no score.

The crowd cheered again as Shahid Afridi walked in. The out-of-form Pakistani star started off cautiously. But he failed once again, caught by Jehan Mubarak on 14 while going for a bouncer by Thilan Thushara in the sixth over.

The next batsman, Younis Khan, too got out without scoring as he was run out by Weeraratne in the seventh over.

As captain Shoaib Malik and Butt played some long shots to post 64 for three at the half-way stage, the Sri Lankan skipper rotated his bowlers cleverly to check the dangerous Pakistani batsmen.

He succeeded in removing Malik in the 13th over when he was caught on long on by Jehan Mubarak off Mendis for 19, reducing Pakistan to 81 for four.

Mendis struck again when Butt tried to lift him over long on to be caught by Thushara for 44.

Fawad Alam, who joined Haq, also perished quickly, caught and bowled by Mahroof for two in the 18th over.

Misbah-ul-Haq and new batsman Kamran Akmal took the score past 130 when the latter was lured out by Mendis to be stumped by Dilshan for 12.

The Pakistani innings ended on 132 for seven, with Haq remaining unbeaten on 23 and Umar Gul on two.

The Sri Lankans resumed the chase, with Jayasuriya going after Shoaib Akhtar and Sohail Tanvir from the word go. The southpaw was particularly severe on the Rawalpindi Express, hitting him for two successive sixes over square leg his second over.

With Mahela Udawatte too responding with fours and a six against Umar Gul, the two posted 50 on the scoreboard in the 5th over.

This forced the Pakistani skipper to introduce himself and Shahid Afridi in the attack. And the move paid off in the next over (seventh) when Udawatte went for a big one and was caught at long off by Shoaib Akhtar for 25.

Jayasuriya and his captain played the next two overs carefully and paid for their caution when Malik removed both of them.

First, the Pakistani skipper uprooted Jayasuriya's off-stump in the 10th over when the left-handed went for a sweep and missed. His 40 came off just 34 balls and included two sixes.

In his next over, Malik removed Jayawardene in a similar fashion, uprooting his off-stump.

At that stage, Pakistani bowlers seemed to control the proceedings, drying the Sri Lankan run rate and claiming three wickets.

But Shoaib Malik's decision to bring back Shoaib Akhtar backfired as the speedster conceded 18 runs in the crucial 15th over.

Fawad Alam tried to put the brakes on run scoring by giving just three and six runs in his next two overs, but it was too late.

Despite losing the fifth wicket of Weeraratne in the 17th, they reached the victory target of 133 runs with an over to spare.