Colombo, August 08: Teenager Umar Akmal smashed an unbeaten 102 off 72 balls and skipper Younus Khan made 89 as Pakistan piled up 321-5 in the fourth one-dayer against Sri Lanka here on Friday.
Umar, 19, younger brother of the team’s wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, pounded four sixes and five boundaries in a maiden one-day century in only his third international.
Younus stayed rock-solid at the other end as Umar punished the wayward Sri Lankan attack during a fifth-wicket partnership of 176 runs after Pakistan slipped to 130-4.
The tourists are hoping to restore battered pride in the day-night match at the Premadasa stadium after Sri Lanka won the first three games in Dambulla to take an unassailable lead in the series.
Sri Lanka also won the preceding Test series 2-0.
Pakistan made a sound start as Imran Nazir, playing for the first time in the series, hit 23 in a first-wicket stand of 61 with Kamran Akmal by the 10th over.
Kamran then put on 45 for the second wicket with Younus to lift Pakistan to 106-1, before another middle-order collapse saw three wickets fall for 24 runs.
Leg-spinner Malinga Bandara, himself making his first appearance in the series, bowled Kamran and trapped Misbah-ul-Haq leg-before to finish with two for 44 in 10 overs.
Lasith Malinga went for 79 runs in his 10 wicketless overs, while fellow paceman Thilan Thushara took two wickets for 74 runs.
Sri Lanka rested three frontline bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Kulasekara and Dilhara Fernando, and replaced them with Ajantha Mendis, Bandara and Malinga.
Pakistan were forced to leave out the injured duo of Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq and also dropped Nasir Jamshed and Fawad Alam.
They were replaced by Nazir, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah and seamer Rao Iftikhar.
—–Agencies