Pakistan piled up 175-5 after electing to bat and then restricted the reigning World Twenty20 champions to 146-7 in the day-night match at the Premadasa Stadium. I came to the national team to fill someone else’s shoes.

Pakistan’s T20 captain, Shahid Afridi and head coach Waqar Younis have come under fire after deciding to “rest” wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed from the first T20 global against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

I wonder if that has ever happened before. He had surgery in September and was in recovery for 18 weeks before the World Cup.

An inexperienced bowling line restricted the Sri Lankan batting and exceptional fielding provided full support to the bowlers. It was a direct attack but Pakistan completed the series without showing any grievance. He was out at 165-Eight with eight balls left. He fell victim of Anwar Ali’s short ball caught by Rizwan.

The batting on this tour also shone like it hasn’t in the recent past.

His opposite number Afridi added: “170 was a chaseable total”. Although Mukhtar Ahmed departed the scene early on, Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, steadied the ship for Pakistan before Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal finished with a flourish towards the end. “Otherwise Zia-ul-Haq – a budding young fast bowler having toured recently with Pakistan A – would take his place in the team”. Imad Wasim was impressive as well in his short stint.

The Pakistan skipper fell to Shenan Jayasuriya in the next over after playing a game-changing knock that featured four sixes and a boundary.

Rahat Ali translated his test success to ODIs by displaying wicket taking ability, while Anwar Ali produced economical spells with the new ball and also picked up wickets, which he was failing to do in the past. Perera was his usual domineering self and dispatched a couple of balls with authority, while the odd chancy boundary wasn’t missing either.

The win gave them a 2-0 win over the hosts and a clean sweep of all three formats on their tour of the island which ended on Saturday.

Rizwan was out for 17, and six runs later Afridi was bowled by Jayasuriya, lifted Sri Lanka back on top.

Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, the Test and ODI regulars, have been omitted, but Nuwan Kulasekara has been recalled after being ignored for the ODI series. Pakistani batsmen’s running between the wickets was also very pathetic.

Sri Lanka’s opening combination seems to be where much of their hope for an upset lies.