Fakhar's 127 was not the whole story: Shaheen, Haris and Saad Baig carry Pakistan past 326

Pakistan chased down 326 against Sri Lanka with seven wickets down, winning by three wickets, but the final margin hides how close the game came to slipping away. Reduced to 14 for 2 — Maaz out for 1 and Babar Azam for 0 — Pakistan then lost Mohammad Minhas and Faheem Ashraf in successive deliveries with two runs still needed, and only Shaheen Shah Afridi's six ended the contest. Sri Lanka, batting first, were 255 for 2 after 41 overs. Pavan Rathnayake made 77 and Kamindu Mendis struck 131, a career-best that more than doubled his previous best ODI score. A total around 350 looked routine at that stage. It did not happen: Sri Lanka lost six wickets in the last nine overs and finished on 325 for 8. That collapse is the single hardest piece of evidence behind Pakistan's comeback. Rathnayake's series numbers — 427 runs at 106.75 — look formidable, but they rest on only four dismissals, a sample too small to carry much weight. The form was real; the average is not a reliable measure. Fakhar Zaman made 127, yet the most consequential detail of his innings sits outside the scorecard. Sri Lanka dropped him three times, on 6, 69 and 106, with Maheesh Theekshana putting him down twice. Had any one of those chances been taken, the shape of the chase would have changed. Saad Baig, hours away from his 20th birthday, made 74 for his first international fifty, and his innings did as much to steady Pakistan as Fakhar's. At one point Pakistan needed 46 from 30 balls; a 15-run over relieved the pressure. Minhas and Mohammad Nawaz added 94 runs, a stand that simplified the target without sealing it — the proof being that two wickets fell with two runs still required. Shaheen removed Kamindu Mendis and Dasun Shanaka and then hit the winning six. Haris Rauf took two late wickets, using the short ball, to limit Sri Lanka's finish. Minhas's left-arm spin was expensive, though no figures were disclosed, leaving readers unable to judge the size of that cost. Four days earlier the same Pakistan batting order had been bowled out for 110. Four days later it chased 326. The reversal is treated as colour rather than as a question, and no explanation for it appears anywhere. The attribution belongs to a set of contributors, not to one innings: Fakhar's 127, Saad Baig's 74, the Minhas-Nawaz stand, Shaheen's double contribution with ball and bat, and Haris Rauf's late wickets. Sri Lanka's 131 from Kamindu, 77 from Rathnayake and six wickets in nine overs at the death went to waste. Pakistan have the win, but not the convincing performance the scorecard suggests.