Twitter reacts to Pakistan pacers dominating against Sri Lankan batsmen

After 11 exciting group stage matches, the last one finally took place at Cardiff, between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The level of competition and uncertainty in the ICC Champions Trophy this year can be made out knowing the fact that the four semi-finalists are not yet decided till the very last match of the group stages.

After winning the toss, looking at the overcast condition, Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed had no hesitation opting to bowl first. What one saw at Cardiff today seemed analogous to the Pakistani attack in the 90s, starring the likes of Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram.

The trio of Pakistan pace attack had a field day, as they claimed most of the Sri Lankan wicket with ball nipping around as well as swing. Junaid Khan, Hassan Ali and Mohammad Amir all bowled an unplayable spell as they clinched as many as eight wickets in total. Even the rookie debutant Fahim Ashraf joined the party by picking up two important wickets of the Sri Lankan batsman.

When a partnership between Angelo Matthews and top scorer Niroshan Dickwella started to bloom, Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan displayed an incredible exhibition of swing bowling as Sri Lanka lost four wickets by adding just six runs to the total. The only moment of madness from Pakistan was when the captain advised the umpires to go upstairs when he clearly knew that he grassed a catch of Gunaratne.

Thanks to the contribution from Gunaratne and Suranga Lakmal, Sri Lanka posted a competitive total of 236 to make a match out of it. Dickwella looked a class apart with his 73 off just 86 balls at a strike rate of almost 85. The usually explosive batsman only managed to score four boundaries in his innings as he played the role of the sheath anchor in the innings.

Let us look at how Twitter reacted to the performance of Pakistan bowlers