Sri Lanka produced a clinical bowling display to beatPakistan by 16 runs and storm into the final of the ICC World Twenty20 here on Thursday.
After managing a modest 139 for four on a slow Premadasatrack, Sri Lankan duo of Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis stifled the Pakistanbatsmen in the final overs to restrict them to 123 for seven.
Pakistan needed 32 runs off last three overs which isconsidered to be quite achievable by Twenty20 standards but Mendis and Malingaheld their nerves giving only five and four runs respectively of the 18th and19th over.
Nuwan Kulasekara, who bowled the 20th over, didn't have anypressure on him as he gave only seven runs to send the capacity crowd into atizzy.
Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath used the conditions toperfection as he recorded the best figures of three for 25 in four overs.Malinga gave only 19 runs in his four overs while Mendis was also impressivewith figures two for 27.
Chasing a target of 140 was a tricky one on the slowPremadasa track as batsmen often got confused whether to attack or rotate thestrike.
Imran Nazir was in his element as he tried to hit each andevery ball out of the sight but failed to connect most of them before hedragged one off Mendis onto his stumps. Nazir made 20 with the help of threefours.
Then it was Angelo Mathews who got Sri Lanka back into thegame trapping in-form Nasir Jamshed leg before and then deceived Kamran Akmalwith a slower one.
From 57 for three, Pakistan soon became 64 for four, asHerath bowled Shoaib Malik with a classical left-armer's delivery. He flightedone to invite Malik for a drive and the ball turned a shade after pitching toknock the batsman's off-stump.
Having got a reprieve at 24, Hafeez who till now was happyto play the waiting game, chanced his arms. First he pulled Mathews for aboundary and then reverse swept Herath.
He followed it up with a straight six.
But Hafeez finally departed for 42 when he was stumpedtrying to give Herath the charge.
Shahid Afridi's woeful time with the bat continued as Herathcleaned up in the next ball to register his third wicket.
Pakistan were tottering at 91 for six at that stage and fromthere victory became out of question.
Earlier, electing to bat, some scratchy batting by openerTillekaratne Dilshan hampered Sri Lanka's chances of putting up a big total asthey managed only 139 for four in their stipulated 20 overs.
While skipper Mahela Jayawardene had provided the rightstart with a 36-ball-42, Dilshan struggled throughout the middle overs as hemanaged only 35 off 42 balls.
The Lankans managed 16 runs of the final over when ThisaraPerera hit a couple of fours while Angelo Mathews also managed a thick edge.
Shahid Afridi, Mohammed Hafeez, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal gota wicket each but more importantly didn't go for too many runs.
The decision to promote left-hander Jeevan Mendis aboveMathews and Perrera was baffling as the former played a lot of dot balls thatadded to the pressure on Dilshan.
Jayawardene's batting was a treat to watch. He perishedtrying to play the sweep shot one too many but till he was executing it withease in the first 10 overs, there was no better sight.
A shrewd thinker, Jayawardene saw that off-spinner Ajmal,with his doosras, leg-spinner Afridi and slow left-arm orthodox Raza Hassanwere all spinning the ball away from him.
In the circumstances, he found the reverse sweep as thesafest option and he played it with consummate ease.
He started with a slog sweep of Hassan and then got a coupleof boundaries off Ajmal -- first one was a lap shot over short fine leg andthen a reverse sweep.
Watching Jayawardene take charge, Dilshan, who had startedoff on a rousing note with two boundaries in the first two overs, played thesecond fiddle.
The Lankan captain first reverse swept Afridi for a boundaryand then in the bowler's next over, the Lankan skipper hit him over extra coverfor another boundary as it brought up the 50.
Such was Jayawardene's dominance that he scored 34 of thefirst 50 runs with Dilshan's contribution being only 15.
In the 11th over, Afridi finally got his man whenJayawardene shuffled across the off-stump to play another lap-shot but itdidn't have the power to clear Hassan stationed at short fine leg.
Jayawardene's 42 came off 36 balls during which he struckboundaries.
New man in Kumar Sangakkara started on a positive fashionhitting three lovely fours but perished trying to be over-ambitious being holedout at long-on off Hafeez's bowling. Sangakkara managed only 18.
The home team reached 100 at the end of the 15th over buttheir struggle started after that.
Dilshan and left-hander Mendis played too many dot balls inthat phase which increased the pressure on the home team.
In fact Dilshan's struggle was to such an extent that ittook him 31 deliveries to hit his third boundary having hit the second one inthe second over.
Umar Gul, introduced in the 16th over, bowled fast and fullto both Dilshan and Mendis to make their life miserable.
Mendis was adjudged leg before to a delivery that pitched onblockhole but TV replays showed that Gul had overstepped and the decision wasreversed. Finally, Gul ended Dilshan's misery with another fuller delivery thatthe batsman missed to be adjudged leg-before.
The Dilshan-Mendis duo could add only 33 runs in the fiveovers they played together. Mendis was then stumped off an Ajmal delivery whenhe tried to give the charge after struggling for 18 deliveries to score his 15.
