As It Happened: Pakistan Beat Sri Lanka to Win Series

That's all from us today. Hope you liked our coverage. We will see you for the final match of the series on Sunday at 1430 IST. Till then, ciao!

Azhar Ali thanks the Almighty as well. Says he can't control the toss but they want to do whatever they do, perfectly. Adds he thought that the wicket was good and the bowlers need to be praised as they kept to their plans and took crucial wickets. Says the fielders worked hard in the practice and every time they look for run outs or catches in the field. Adds the fielding has been exceptional. (When asked about his dismissal) Replies he failed to execute the shot better and next time he will keep that in mind. Says he wants to win the last game with the same intensity with Champions Trophy qualification still at stake. Ends by saying that this series win is a gift to all the people in Pakistan.

Ahmed Shehzad is the Man of the Match for today's game. Thanks the Almighty, says he was getting good starts but couldn't capitalize earlier. Adds that today he worked according to the team plan and that clicked. Says he wants to thank all the supporting staff and that it is a complete team effort. Further says he is very happy and wants to do well in the upcoming matches as well. Says Ali is in a very good form and we tried to play positive cricket and not to be selfish and that has worked so far. Ends by saying he got out to a lousy shot and it didn't pay off today.

Angelo Mathews says after the solid start we kept losing wickets at crucial times as it was a fighting total but was not good enough. Says the guys wanted to go out and play shots and it's not easy to get 7 or 8 runs an over in the last 10 overs with the new rules. Further says there was no real penetration in our bowling attack and that was the case throughout the series. Says Malinga was bowling well and he created a couple of chances which they failed to take. Ends by saying they will play positive cricket and try and win the dead rubber now that the series is already lost.

Pakistan came in for the chase with a positive attitude and proved it from the first ball itself. They got a good 75-run opening stand before their captain departed. Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez built on a 115-run stand to take the game away from Sri Lanka. Though both of them missed out on their deserved hundreds, Sarfraz Ahmed and a quickfire 29 from Shoaib Malik helped them to chase down the 5th highest total at Colombo and win the series in Sri Lanka after 9 long years.

What a clinical performance from Pakistan. They bowled and fielded brilliantly to keep Sri Lanka at bay and only let them to a score of 256/9. Mohammad Irfan and Rahat Ali picked up 5 wickets between them and crippled the Sri Lankan middle order. Lahiru Thirimanne played a solid 90 for the hosts but the rest of the batsmen were below average.

SIX! Short of a length on the pads, Malik pullls it over the mid-wicket region for another maximum to win the tie for Pakistan in style. PAKISTAN WIN BY 7 WICKETS AND TAKE AN UNBEATABLE 3-1 LEAD IN THE SERIES.

Cuts the good length delivery straight to point.

Fuller in length, Malik hammers it coming down the ground straight to mid on.

Ahmed drives it straight to long off for a single.