Pakistan Turn the Tables in Lahore: Fakhar's 127 and Minhas's Late Surge Seal Tri-Series Title

Pakistan won the ODI tri-series final at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Saturday, 31 October 2026, beating Sri Lanka by three wickets with nine balls to spare. Chasing 326, Pakistan reached 331 for 7 in 48.3 overs, after Sri Lanka had posted 325 for 8 in their 50 overs.

Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl first. That decision was tested for much of the Sri Lanka innings, then rewarded in the closing overs, and the chase that followed swung twice before the home side closed it out.

Kamindu and Rathnayake build Sri Lanka's total

Sri Lanka's innings was shaped by a third-wicket stand of 146 runs between Kamindu Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake. Kamindu made 131 from 128 balls, while Rathnayake contributed 77, and Avishka Fernando added 38 earlier in the order.

At the end of 41 overs, Sri Lanka were 255 for 2 and positioned for a total well beyond the one they eventually reached. Pakistan's bowlers then changed the shape of the innings. Sri Lanka lost wickets through the last nine overs and finished on 325 for 8.

Salman Ali Agha took 2 for 44 and Shaheen Shah Afridi took 2 for 50 for Pakistan. Afridi's dismissal of Kamindu was the break that began Sri Lanka's late slowdown, and it left Pakistan with a demanding but reachable target.

Fakhar and Baig repair the chase after 14 for 2

Pakistan's reply began badly. They slipped to 14 for 2, and the final looked as though it might follow the pattern of the two sides' meeting four days earlier, when Pakistan were bowled out for 110 in Lahore.

Fakhar Zaman and Saad Baig prevented that. They added 149 runs for the third wicket, rebuilding the innings ball by ball before Fakhar took greater control. Fakhar made 127 from 99 balls, including 11 fours and six sixes, for his 12th ODI century. Baig made 74 from 75 balls, a measured innings that kept the required rate within reach while Fakhar attacked.

Minhas changes the closing overs

The chase still needed a late push, and Arafat Minhas provided it from No. 7. His 61 from 31 balls lifted the tempo at the point where a chase of this size can stall, and it moved Pakistan close enough that the final overs became a question of composure rather than arithmetic.

That composure was tested. Pakistan were 324 for 7, with wickets falling in quick succession near the end, before Hasan Nawaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi saw the side home. Hasan finished unbeaten on 37 from 45 balls, and Afridi, unbeaten on 6 from three balls, struck the winning runs with a six off Dilshan Madushanka over deep midwicket.

Madushanka was Sri Lanka's most successful bowler, taking 3 for 63, while Asitha Fernando took 2 for 72.

What the result settles

The result gives Pakistan the tri-series trophy and reverses the story of the group meeting between the same sides in the same city. Four days after being dismissed for 110, Pakistan produced the two partnerships the final required: first to recover from 14 for 2, then to accelerate when the target still looked distant.

For Sri Lanka, the disappointment will centre on the last nine overs of their own innings. A platform of 255 for 2 became 325 for 8, and a total that had looked likely to pass 350 became one Pakistan could chase with balls to spare. Kamindu's century, the highest score of the match, was not enough to cover that late loss of momentum.

The final, then, was decided less by one innings than by two passages of play: Pakistan's recovery with the bat after an early collapse, and their control with the ball when Sri Lanka were best placed to dominate. Both arrived at the moments when the match could have gone the other way.