Watch: Dunith Wellalage produced a peach that turned sharply to beat Babar Azam‘s outside edge and got him stumped in the Asia Cup Super Fours match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Colombo today (September 14).
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After producing a performance for the ages against India where he took five wickets and scored an unbeaten 42, young Sri Lankan all-rounder Wellalage was at it again against Pakistan. He removed Babar Azam, the No.1 ODI batter in the ICC rankings with a beautiful delivery.
Batting first in a shortened game, Pakistan lost opener Fakhar Zaman early thanks to an inswinging yorker by Pramod Madushan. Abdullah Shafique and Babar then put together a 64-run partnership before Wellalage got rid of the latter.
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Bowling his fourth over in the 16th of the innings, Wellalage tossed one up on the last ball of the over. Babar stretched out to defend the ball just outside off, but it turned sharply beating his bat and making him lose his balance.
His back foot stretched out of the crease for a moment, but by the time he was able to get it back in Kusal Mendis had whipped the bails off, adding another big wicket to Wellalage’s already rich list of ODI victims, which includes Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, and David Warner.
Babar was out for 29 off 35 balls. Wellalage eventually finished his spell of nine overs with figures of 1-40. Another rain interruption caused the game to be reduced to 42 overs a side. Mohammad Rizwan led Pakistan’s charge through the middle and death overs, finishing unbeaten on 86 off 73 and taking Pakistan to a competitive total of 252-7 from their 42 overs.
Watch Dunith Wellalage get Babar Azam stumped with a sharp turning delivery in the Asia Cup Super Fours match:
— Nihari Korma (@NihariVsKorma) September 14, 2023
