Fakhar’s Century Helps Pakistan Beat Sri Lanka and Win the Tri-Series 2026

Pakistan won the Pakistan Tri-Series 2026 by beating Sri Lanka by three wickets in the final. They needed 326 to win and got there in 48.3 overs. Fakhar scored 127, and Saad Baig and Arafat Minhas each made a fifty to back him up.

Sri Lanka batted first at Gaddafi Stadium after Pakistan won the toss. The pitch was slow, but Sri Lanka still got to 325-8. Kamindu Mendis was the main reason. He scored 131 off 128 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes. It was his first ODI century, and it beat his old best of 64. He and Avishka Fernando (38) gave Sri Lanka a solid start with an opening stand of 87 in under 18 overs. Salman Agha then took the wickets of Fernando and Kusal Mendis (8) to break it up. He finished with 2-44.

Pavan Rathnayake, who has been in good form, joined Kamindu and made 77. Together they added 146 for the third wicket. Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi then got rid of both Kamindu and Dasun Shanaka (17) within two overs. Pakistan also bowled well at the end. They took three wickets for only 38 runs in the last five overs, which kept Sri Lanka from a bigger score. Shaheen ended with 2-50, and Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah took two wickets each.

Pakistan’s chase began badly. Dilshan Madushanka got Maaz Sadaqat for five and Babar Azam for a duck in back-to-back overs, and the score was 14-2. Fakhar and 19-year-old wicketkeeper Saad Baig steadied things with a 149-run stand for the third wicket. Baig made 74 off 75 balls with 11 boundaries before Maheesh Theekshana caught him off his own bowling in the 27th over.

Fakhar kept going with Salman Ali Agha, and they put on 57 together. Fakhar reached his 12th ODI hundred along the way. Madushanka bowled him in the 34th over for 127 off 99 balls, with 11 fours and six sixes. Agha was out for 17 two overs later, and at 230-5 the game was still open.

Hasan Nawaz and Minhas turned it back towards Pakistan with a 94-run partnership. Minhas hit hard, scoring 61 off just 31 balls with four sixes and three fours. Asitha Fernando got both Minhas and Faheem Ashraf in the 48th over, which gave Sri Lanka a little hope. But Shaheen settled it by hitting a six off Madushanka in the second-last over. Madushanka took 3-63, Fernando took two wickets, and Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage took one each.

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