<\/p>\n
Swashbuckling Kusal Mendis smashed the fastest century for Sri Lanka in a World Cup match on Tuesday, guiding his team to an imposing 344-9 against Pakistan in Hyderabad.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old cracked a 65-ball century before going on to make 122, his highest score in ODIs and third century.<\/p>\n
It was an innings spiced with 14 boundaries and half a dozen sixes, leading the charge for Sri Lanka who won the toss and batted.<\/p>\n
Sadeera Samarawickrama also joined the party with a brilliant maiden hundred, hitting 11 boundaries and two sixes in his 89-ball 108.<\/p>\n
Mendis twice escaped dropped catches \u2014 Shaheen Shah Afridi dropped him off his own bowling in the fifth over and then Imam-ul-Haq blundered in the next over again off Shaheen on 18.<\/p>\n
Mendis completed his 50 off 40 balls with his seventh boundary, lifting Sri Lanka from the early loss of Kusal Perera (nought) in the second over to Hasan Ali.<\/p>\n
He put on a 102 with Pathum Nissanka whose 51 came off 61 balls with seven boundaries and a six.<\/p>\n
Once Nissanka fell to Shadab Khan, Mendis and Samarawickrama unleashed some superb hitting against Pakistan\u2019s pacers and spinners alike, adding 111 for the third wicket.<\/p>\n
They were savage on fast bowler Haris Rauf, hitting him for two sixes and a boundary in the 21st over.<\/p>\n
When Shaheen came back for a second spell, Mendis cracked three fours in the 25th over.<\/p>\n
Hasan Ali was hoisted by Mendis for a six to allow the batsman his third hundred off 65 balls.<\/p>\n
It was his first century in thee-and-a-half years but he had made 76 in the opening defeat to South Africa and now has at least five half-centuries in his last seven ODIs.<\/p>\n
Previously, Kumar Sangakkara held the Sri Lanka World Cup record with a 70-ball hundred, scored against England in 2015.<\/p>\n
Mendis\u2019s previous best was 119 against the West Indies in Hambantota in February 2020.<\/p>\n
Mendis hit two sixes off Hasan\u2019s 29th over before he holed out at deep mid-wicket boundary off Hasan Ali.<\/p>\n
Hasan then removed Charith Asalanka for one but Samarawickrama and Dhananjaya de Silva (25) added 65 for the fifth wicket.<\/p>\n
Hasan finished as the best bowler with 4-71 while Rauf took 2-64.<\/p>\n
Pakistan:<\/strong> 1 Imam-ul-Haq 2 Abdullah Shafique 3 Babar Azam (capt) 4 Mohammad Rizwan(wk) 5 Saud Shakeel 6 Iftikhar Ahmed 7 Shadab Khan 8 Mohammad Nawaz 9 Hasan Ali 10 Shaheen Afridi 11 Haris Rauf<\/p>\n Sri Lanka:<\/strong> 1 Pathum Nissanka 2 Kusal Perera 3 Kusal Mendis 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama 5 Charith Asalanka 6 Dhananjaya de Silva 7 Dasun Shanaka 8 Dunith Wellalage 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Maheesh Pathirana11 Dilshan Madushanka<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Swashbuckling Kusal Mendis smashed the fastest century for Sri Lanka in a World Cup match on Tuesday, guiding his team to an imposing 344-9 against Pakistan in Hyderabad. The 28-year-old cracked a 65-ball century before going on to make 122, his highest score in ODIs and third century. It was an innings spiced with 14 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/10\/1017415276e4581.png?r=174203","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t