First and foremost, sincere gratitude to the Sri Lankan Government, Cricket Board & Management for demonstrating solidarity with Pakistan Cricket.

Pakistan cricket team whitewashed Sri Lankan team in bilateral ODI’s (One day Internationals) Cricket series for the third time in history, 4-0 in 1985, 5-0 in 2017 and 3-0 in lately played 2025 series.

In the opening game of 3 ODI series played at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka won the toss & decided to bowl first anticipating the dew factor. Sri Lankan bowlers started well and dented Pakistani batting early on with 4 wickets. Salman Ali Agha stabilised Pakistan batting by partnering with Hussain Talat and paved the way for Pakistan. Agha scored a genius 105* and Talat contributed important 62. After Talat’s departure Muhammad Nawaz finished the innings on high, scoring a brisk 36* on 23 balls only and gave Pakistan a solid chance to go 1-0 up in the series. Pakistan managed to score a decent 299/5 in 50 Overs.

In pursuit of the chase, Sri Lankan openers started really well and were 84/0 till 11.3 Overs, but Haris Rauf’s pace unsettled Sri Lankan batters and 3 wickets went down in quick succession. Samarawickrama, Asalanka and Liyanage played vital small knocks and the valiant inning by Hasaranga 59 on 52 balls brought the game down the wire though. After the fall of Hasaranga, the rising run rate was difficult to catch up for Srilankan tail. Nevertheless, Srilanka fought hard & lost by only 6 runs.

Nation is ecstatic over Babar Azam’s 20th ton after a long wait of 807 days since August 2023 against Nepal in Asia Cup. Finally, after 83 innings the spectators witnessed the artist getting the grip back on his craft by scoring a fluent, classy and unbeaten 102*.

Babar equalled the record for most ODI centuries for Pakistan along with former left hand batter Saeed Anwar. In 2nd ODI, Pakistan chased down the target of 289 with ease, losing only 2 wickets. All top 4 batter’s batted superbly, Fakhar 78, Rizwan 51*, Saim 33, but the real highlight & delight of the day was King Babar’s 102*. Since Shaheen was feeling unwell, Agha Salman lead the team in 2nd ODI.

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bowl first again in 3rd ODI. Pitch was well sprayed and relatively grassy in comparison to the previously used tracks. Even so, the conditions favored more to batters. Sri Lankan stand-in Skipper Kusal Mendis was optimistic about scoring 290-320, but Pakistan’s bowling brilliance restricted them to 211. Srilankan openers Nissanka and Mishara kicked-off with a flying start by exploiting gaps and coming hard at Pakistan attack bowlers, quickly reaching 50 runs. Soon, Pakistan tightened the grip on Sri Lankan batters by taking two quick wickets, Pathum Nissanka tried to worked the ball towards third man, but without footwork inside edged on Haris Rauf’s pacy bowling and Kamil Mishara outside edged on Muhammad Wasim rising and swinging delivery that really halted Sri Lankan progress and forced them in recovery mode. From there onwards, Sri Lankan batters were chasing the game. Muhammad Wasim’s swing bowling display was impressive. Kusal Mendis was completely beaten and clean bowled on a perfect length ball coming in by Wasim.

22 Years old left-arm wrist spinner Faisal Akram’s selection in the team for 3rd ODI was a shrewd maneuver. Promising indications of Pakistan’s Spin bowling bench strength. The young spinner who replaced Abrar Ahmed, grabbed the opportunity with great enthusiasm and delivered a splendid spell of 10 overs taking 2 wickets with the best bowling economy of 4.20. Faisal’s first scalp was caught & bowled of Kamindu Mendis who batted well in the series. The 2nd wicket was magical, Akram breached Sadeera Samarawickrama’s defence, the ball spinning back & hitting the stumps, a dream delivery with a perfect combination of revolutions in the air, dip and sharp turn off the track.

All the bowlers chipped in with wickets, Muhammad Wasim was the highest wicket taker and man of the match, claimed 3 wickets and gave away 47 in 10 over quota. Speedster Haris Rauf & Faisal Akram scalped 2 each. Moreover, skipper Shaheen & Faheem Ashraf contributed with 1 wicket each.

In response to the target of 212, Fakhar started brilliantly from where he left in the 2nd match and exhibited crisp strokes and precise hitting in partnership with Babar Azam. Although, Fakhar also got a lucky chance in the slip, when he was on 13 on the bowling of Theekshana, the slip fielder just could not react & grab the sharp chance, which flew so fast over his head for 4. Pakistan lost Haseebullah Khan early in the chase on the bowling of Maheesh Theekshana, Haseebullah mistimed the hit & could not cross the circle, found the man at mid-on early in the chase, a perfect catch by Eshan Malinga. Babar contributed 32 and could not read googly of Jeffrey Vandersay who also hunted wickets of Fakhar and Salman Agha and was the stand out bowler from Srilanka. Haris rauf was the player of the Series with 9 wickets.

Pakistan ise gradually striking right balances in their bowling and batting combinations. It was a good decision by PCB to reinstate Shaheen as Captain, yet this time in ODI leadership.

Coach Mike Hesson’s efforts are also commendable and his avidity to see Pakistan cricket on top level. Pakistan cricket is slowly heading in the right direction, but the path is long and there is no room for complacency. In view of the fact that, modern day cricket is evolving quickly, Pakistan cricket also needs to evolve and adapt new methods by keeping the basics of the game intact, develop quality bench strength, create fierce competition for the places, that will serve good for Pakistan cricket in the long run. The rise and success of new young spinners in white ball cricket like Abrar Ahmed, Sufyan Muqeem & Faisal Akram is propitious. The bowling & batting form of Muhammad Nawaz is another bright spot for Pakistan cricket team.

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