Fakhar's 127, Saad Baig's 74 and Shaheen's double act: Pakistan chase down 326 with three wickets in hand

Pakistan chased down Sri Lanka's 326 with three wickets in hand, but this was not the story of a single player. The innings had begun poorly, with two wickets gone for just 14 runs. From there Fakhar Zaman made 127, Saad Baig struck 74 on the eve of his 20th birthday, Minhas and Nawaz added 94 for the sixth wicket, and Shaheen Afridi finished the job with both ball and bat. The last two runs proved the hardest: Minhas and Faheem fell in quick succession before Shaheen cleared the boundary to end the match. Sri Lanka's innings had long promised a bigger total. At 41 overs the side was 255/2. Kamindu made 131, the highest score of his ODI career and more than double his previous best, seven years after his ODI debut. Pavan Rathnayake added 77 alongside him. Rathnayake's series has been remarkable: 427 runs at an average of 106.75. That figure will attract attention, but it deserves caution — the average rests on only four dismissals, so it reflects a small sample as much as sustained form. After those first 41 overs Sri Lanka were 255/2. In the last nine overs they lost six wickets and added only 70 runs, finishing on 325/8. That passage decided the match. Pakistan's bowling checked Sri Lanka's momentum in that phase, and while the available figures do not include individual economy rates or over-by-over detail, it is clear that six wickets in nine overs was the difference between 326 and something far larger. Shaheen Afridi removed both Kamindu and Shanaka in that spell — a pair capable of taking Sri Lanka past 300. Pakistan's chase began badly. Maaz fell for one and Babar Azam for nought, leaving the side at 14/2. Saad Baig walked out with his 20th birthday a day away. He made 74, his first international half-century, in conditions where his team had already lost two wickets and the target was above 300. It is the least discussed and possibly the most important passage of the chase. Fakhar Zaman's 127 is the brightest chapter, but it was not clean. He was dropped three times — on 6, on 69 and on 106. Two of those chances went to Maheesh Theekshana. The detail matters: had any one of them been taken, the shape of the match would have changed. Attributing the win solely to the century is also incomplete, because Fakhar only reached that position after being reprieved on 106. After Fakhar fell, Salman also departed, and Minhas and Nawaz took charge. They added 94 for the sixth wicket. The stand simplified a difficult position but did not secure the game, because the team still had to reach the finish. The closing phase proves it. At one point Pakistan needed 46 from 30 balls. A 15-run over followed and the contest opened up again. Then came the moment when Pakistan needed two runs and lost Minhas. Off the next ball Faheem also departed. Seven wickets were down, three remained, and two runs stood between the sides. Shaheen Afridi walked out and hit the ball over the boundary. That single stroke did what the 94-run stand could not — it closed the game out technically. Haris Rauf also took two late wickets, though he chose the short ball to do it, a risky route that worked on the day. One piece of context matters. This is part of a triangular ODI series involving Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England — England is the third team, a fact many reports leave implicit and one readers need in order to understand the tournament's structure. Earlier in the same series, four days ago, Pakistan were bowled out for just 110. The jump from 110 to a 326 chase inside four days is the most interesting aspect of this win, yet no report explains the change: no mention of a change in training, in batting order, or in conditions. It remains an open question, and for a complete match report it is a significant gap. The bowling figures deserve scrutiny too. The available material details batsmen's numbers extensively — 127, 74, 131, 77, 61 off 31 — but offers no economy rates, over counts or runs conceded for the bowlers. Minhas's left-arm spin is described as "expensive" without saying how expensive. The asymmetry makes it hard to judge how much Pakistan's bowling actually changed the game. Only one figure is solid on that front: six wickets in the last nine overs. Any complete account also needs three things logged: a quote from a player or captain after the result, the exact finishing score, and word of what this win did to the series standings. None of these is present in the available material. It is therefore reasonable to treat what has been read as a selection of the day rather than its full record — one in which batting brilliance found space and bowling labour stayed in the background. What is clear is that chasing 326 and winning with three wickets in hand is a substantial achievement, especially from 14/2. Fakhar's century, Baig's fearless fifty, the Minhas-Nawaz stand of 94 and Shaheen's double contribution are all part of it. Crediting any one of them means ignoring the other three. The story of this match belongs not to one hero but to four separate contributions — and that is the most honest conclusion available.