Preview: Pakistan will showcase their security capabilities to the cricketing world for the third time in eight months on Sunday when they hosts Sri Lanka in a Twenty20 International at Lahore's heavily guarded Gaddafi Stadium.
The Pakistan Super League final in March — also in Lahore — featured several overseas players. It was the first small step toward winning back the confidence of foreign teams and reviving international cricket at home after an attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in 2009 during a test match at the same stadium in Lahore.
File image of Sarfraz Ahmed and Thisara Perera. AFP
The Pakistan Cricket Board, in collaboration with the ICC, last month organized a three-match T20 international series against a World XI, led by South Africa's Faf du Plessis, at Gaddafi Stadium.
And now Sri Lanka will round off a T20 series which Pakistan already lead 2-0 after winning in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Pakistan have only hosted Zimbabwe for a short limited-overs series two years ago since the 2009 attack.
Since then UAE has become Pakistan's "home" venue away from home as the PCB gradually tries to convince foreign teams that it's safe to play international cricket in Pakistan.
Several thousand security officials will be on duty Sunday with armed military personnel around the stadium and on the route of team buses to the stadium.
Hundreds of security cameras have also been installed to keep a close watch on the movement of spectators.
Asanka Gurusinha and Hashan Tillakaratne — two of Sri Lanka's survivors in the 2009 attack that killed eight people — will be coming to Lahore again as team manager and batting coach respectively.
But several Sri Lanka players won't be there. Regular captain Upul Tharanga, Lasith Malinga, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal and Akila Dananjaya all pulled out.
Cricket-starved fans have bought tickets in large numbers to witness Sunday's match despite the series already being won by Pakistan.
HIGHLIGHTS
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 36 runs to complete a 3-0 cleansweep in the T20I series after securing a 5-0 whitewash in the ODIs.
Perera perishes trying to slog it out of the ground. Gets no timing whatsoever. The captain has to go.
Chaturanga makes room to drive it past covers and loses his stumps. Mohammad Amir on target.
Sri Lanka 106/6 (15.4 overs)
Seekkuge Prasanna comes to the crease
Shanaka goes! He tries to smack it out of the park but the ball hits the outside half of the bat and Imad Wasim takes the catch. He goes for 54.
Sri Lankan skipper Thisara Perera is the new batsman
That went a long, long way. Shanaka seems to have taken a liking to Shadab Khan. He hammers a flighted delivery way over the long on boundary to bring up his maiden fifty.
Faheem Ashraf hurries Udawatte on the pull shot and he miscues it straight to Babar Azam at mid-wicket. He's out for 11 off 13.
Chaturanga de Silva comes to the crease
That's a soft dismissal. Gunathilaka tries to hit the ball a bit too hard and ends up miscuing it offering a return catch to Mohammad Hafeez. He goes for 9.
Dasun Shanaka is the new batsman
Mohammad Amir swings the ball back in and disturbs the woodwork in his very second ball. Munaweera has to go back for 1.
Samarawickrama is the new batsman.
After 20 overs,Pakistan 180/3 ( Babar Azam 34 , Fahim Ashraf 13)
Sanjaya concedes 23 runs in the last over. It was a terrible over and he just couldn't find the blockhole and ended up bowling a series of full-tosses. And the Paksitan batsmen, Malik and Ashraf made sure to capitalise on them.
Shoaib Malik gets to his fifty in style smashing a full-toss over cow corner. It has been an incredible innings.
He's on 51* off 23 balls.
OUT! Munaweera bowls Zaman. But the Pakistan opener stands his ground for some odd reason. So, the umpires send it upstairs and footage shows it glances the off stump. And Zaman has to go for 31.
Babar Azam is the new batsman.
Sri Lanka XI: Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Mahela Udawatte, Chaturanga de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Thisara Perera, Sachith Pathirana, Seekkuge Prasanna, Isuru Udana, Vikum Sanjaya
Chaturanga de Silva replaces Ashan Priyanjan
Pakistan XI: Umar Amin, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Fahim Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir
Umar Amin and Mohammad Amir replace Usman Khan and Ahmed Shehzad
TOSS: Thisara Perera wins the toss and Sri Lanka will bowl first
Shoaib Malik is also the Man of the Series.
Malik: Playing in front of the home crowd and winning the Man of the Match award is a dream come true for me.
Shoaib Malik is the Man of the Match for his blistering 51 off 24 balls.
Shoaib Malik is the Man of the Match for his blistering 51 off 24 balls.
Shoaib Malik is the Man of the Match for his blistering 51 off 24 balls.
That was another comprehensive performance from Pakistan. Handshakes all around as the hosts celebrate a 8-0 limited overs clean sweep over Sri Lanka.
The visitors never really looked comfortable in the chase. Only Dasun Shanaka provided some hope with a promising half-century but with his dismissal, it was all over for the Lankans. Mohammad Amir made a successful comeback with excellent figures of 4-0-13-4.
There's cheers and smiles all around the Pakistan camp and the crowd in Lahore is ecstatic.
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 36 runs to complete a 3-0 cleansweep in the T20I series after securing a 5-0 whitewash in the ODIs.
Now, Prasanna falls too as he looks to make room and swing his arms. Only, it takes the outside edge and Sarfraz Ahmed accepts the catch gleefully.
Amir has his fourth. Can he get a fifer?
Amir strikes again. Pathirana chips it in the air and Mohammad Hafeez takes a juggling catch.
After 19 overs,Sri Lanka 142/7 ( Seekkuge Prasanna 16 , Sachith Pathirana 14)
Best over of Sri Lanka's innings but it came a bit too late. 19 runs off Hasan Ali's final over. He finishes with figures of 4-0-39-1. A tad expensive tonight.
Prasanna really lays into another slower, short delviery from Hasan Ali and creams it over deep midwicket.
Prasanna gets the elevation and the distance off a Hasan Ali short ball. Futile runs considering the match situation but something to cheer for the fans.
After 18 overs,Sri Lanka 123/7 ( Seekkuge Prasanna 3 , Sachith Pathirana 8)
Fahim Ashraf, who has been mighty impressive today, comes back to bowl the 18th over. He concedes nine runs, including a boudnary.
Perera perishes trying to slog it out of the ground. Gets no timing whatsoever. The captain has to go.
Thisara Perera pulls it into the gap between deep mid-wicket and long-on.
After 16 overs,Sri Lanka 107/6 ( Thisara Perera (C) 4 , Seekkuge Prasanna 1)
Brilliant over from Amir. Just three runs off it. Sri Lanka require 74 runs from 24 balls.
Fan from Abu Dhabi tells Firstpost comparing experience of watching match in UAE versus Pakistan
Chaturanga makes room to drive it past covers and loses his stumps. Mohammad Amir on target.
Sri Lanka 106/6 (15.4 overs)
Seekkuge Prasanna comes to the crease
After 15 overs,Sri Lanka 104/5 ( Chaturanga de Silva 20 , Thisara Perera (C) 3)
Mohammad Hafeez is back into the attack. Sri Lanka can only milk five singles off it.
After 14 overs,Sri Lanka 99/5 ( Chaturanga de Silva 17 , Thisara Perera (C) 1)
Fahim Ashraf comes back and picks up the big fish. Sri Lanka lose half their side. Is this it for the Islanders?
Shanaka goes! He tries to smack it out of the park but the ball hits the outside half of the bat and Imad Wasim takes the catch. He goes for 54.
Sri Lankan skipper Thisara Perera is the new batsman
Shahryar, a fan at the Gaddafi Stadium, praises the security arrangements in a chat with Firstpost
After 12 overs,Sri Lanka 90/4 ( Dasun Shanaka 51 , Chaturanga de Silva 12)
Shabab Khan comes back into the attack and Shanaka takes two fours and a six off of him. He needs to keep this up if Sri Lanka must overcome Pakistan's target.
That went a long, long way. Shanaka seems to have taken a liking to Shadab Khan. He hammers a flighted delivery way over the long on boundary to bring up his maiden fifty.
Shanaka gets back to back boundaries off Shadab Khan. He drills one back down the ground and slog sweeps the next to the deep midwicket boundary.
After 11 overs,Sri Lanka 73/4 ( Dasun Shanaka 36 , Chaturanga de Silva 10)
Hasan Ali comes into the attack. Shanaka and de Silva can only manage to milk six singles (plus one wide).
After 10 overs,Sri Lanka 66/4 ( Dasun Shanaka 33 , Chaturanga de Silva 7)
Imad Wasim comes back and will finish his quota and concedes seven runs. A decent spell from him. 4-0-30-1
After 9 overs,Sri Lanka 59/4 ( Dasun Shanaka 31 , Chaturanga de Silva 2)
Fahim Ashraf is bowling with some good pace and dismisses Udawatte. Another economical over the young righ-armer.
Faheem Ashraf hurries Udawatte on the pull shot and he miscues it straight to Babar Azam at mid-wicket. He's out for 11 off 13.
Chaturanga de Silva comes to the crease
After 8 overs,Sri Lanka 55/3 ( Mahela Udawatte 10 , Dasun Shanaka 30)
Shadab Khan to bowl his leg-breaks. Shanaka takes him downtown for a couple of sixes. He has looked nice and positive against the spinners. Excellent over for Sri Lanka. They need to keep this up.
Shadab dares to toss it up again and Shanaka obliges him with a muscular hit down the ground.
Shanaka covers the line of leg spinner Shadab Khan and slog sweeps it over deep square leg.
After 7 overs,Sri Lanka 41/3 ( Mahela Udawatte 9 , Dasun Shanaka 17)
Fahim Ashraf is introduced into the attack. He keeps it nice and tidy and concedes just two singles in his first over.
After 6 overs, Sri Lanka 38/3 ( Mahela Udawatte 8 , Dasun Shanaka 15)
Just 38 off the powerplay. Poor start from Sri Lanka. Pakistan are right on top of this at the moment.
Full and wide from Amir and Shanaka drives easily past the covers for four.
After 5 overs,Sri Lanka 32/3 ( Mahela Udawatte 7 , Dasun Shanaka 10)
Better over for Sri Lanka. Two boundaries and a couple of singles off it.
Shanaka drives nonchalantly past the bowler and the fielder mid-off for four. He hardly looked to smash that.
After 4 overs,Sri Lanka 22/3 ( Mahela Udawatte 6 , Dasun Shanaka 1)
Mohammad Hafeez into the attack and strikes in his third ball. Sri Lanka have lost their top order within the first four overs.
That's a soft dismissal. Gunathilaka tries to hit the ball a bit too hard and ends up miscuing it offering a return catch to Mohammad Hafeez. He goes for 9.
Dasun Shanaka is the new batsman
After 3 overs,Sri Lanka 16/2 ( Danushka Gunathilaka 9 , Mahela Udawatte 1)
Imad Wasim continues and bowls good, tight lines to keep Samarawickrama quiet. All he can do is smash it down the throat of the fielder at deep square leg.
Samarawickrama shuffles across to play a slog sweep but hits it straight to Babar Azam at deep square leg. He goes for 4.
After 2 overs,Pakistan 13/0 ( Fakhar Zaman 7 , Umar Amin 4)
Amir, playing his first match, after the Tests, doesn't take long to find his rhythm. He's troubling the batsmen with subtle movement. Sri Lanka lose their first wicket and already find themselves on the backfoot.
Mohammad Amir swings the ball back in and disturbs the woodwork in his very second ball. Munaweera has to go back for 1.
Samarawickrama is the new batsman.
After 1 overs,Sri Lanka 10/0 ( Danushka Gunathilaka 9 , Dilshan Munaweera 1)
Imad Wasim begins proceedings for Pakistan while Gunathilaka and Munaweera open for Sri Lanka. A couple of miscues that evade the fielders in the deep and the last ball takes the outside edge for Sri Lanka's first boundary.
Shoaib Malik's late onslaught has Pakistan post an above-average total of 180. Fakhar Zaman and Umar Amin provided a decent start but when talisman came in after the fall of Amin, he blasted a 23-ball fifty in a 75-run partnership with Babar Azam. The Sri Lankans bowled one too many full-tosses and ended up paying for it.
Can the visitors end the series with a T20I victory in their kitty or will Pakistan complete a cleansweep?
Stay tuned to find out.
After 20 overs,Pakistan 180/3 ( Babar Azam 34 , Fahim Ashraf 13)
Sanjaya concedes 23 runs in the last over. It was a terrible over and he just couldn't find the blockhole and ended up bowling a series of full-tosses. And the Paksitan batsmen, Malik and Ashraf made sure to capitalise on them.
Back to back sixes for Ashraf. More full-tosses from Sanjaya and the batsman powers it over the deep cover and deep mid-wicket fence.
And Malik goes the very next ball. He can't get underneath this full-toss and miscues it straight to the fielder at deep midwicket,
Fahim Ashraf comes to the crease.
Shoaib Malik gets to his fifty in style smashing a full-toss over cow corner. It has been an incredible innings.
He's on 51* off 23 balls.
After 19 overs,Pakistan 157/2 ( Babar Azam 33 , Shoaib Malik 43)
Thisara Perera keeps it full and concedes just the one boundary off the 19th over. He finishes a decent spell of 4-0-28-0.