Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan 5-4 in a thrilling game to win the West Asia Baseball Cup at the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Stadium in Diyagama yesterday.
The Sri Lankans got off to flying start when they opened the first inning collecting three runs. The victory also paved the way for Sri Lanka to play in the Asian Championship scheduled to to be held in Japan later this year.
The Pakistanis who took the field with high hopes being ranked streets ahead of the host country failed in their inning miserably with the Sri Lankan fielders doing an excellent job on the field to halt their opponents from scoring.
From their on both sides could not add any runs until the fifth inning and this became a tough task for the Pakistanis as they were far behind the locals with a deficit of three runs.
Sri Lanka failed to take add runs in the fifth and sixth innings too while Pakistan managed to collect a run to reduce the lead 3-1.
The seventh inning saw the local lads make a strong comeback to collect two more runs and give their opponents more pressure as Pakistan failed in their bid to challenge Sri Lanka to take the Cup which they failed to grab in 2017. Sri Lanka entering the eighth inning made things more difficult for Pakistan collecting two runs to have a lead of three runs. Pakistan’s players came out to face the eighth inning and were able to make two runs to reduce the lead 5-4. Sri Lanka faced the final inning with hopes of increasing the lead to add more pressure on the Pakistanis. But their efforts failed with the visitors halting the run chase of the Sri Lankans. This left the Pakistanis to gain two runs to win in the final inning. The Sri Lankan pitcher at this stage played a vital role in restricting his opponent only to a single run which also sealed the match for the home team.
Shashika Dilshan of Sri Lanka was declared as the Most Valuable Player of the Championship. Sameera Ratnayake the captain speaking after the final said that it was a great victory achieved by Sri Lanka mainly due to the team’s spirited display on the field. “All Players did their part well according to their ability and what was the most needed at a final of this nature to bring glory to our motherland. I am happy to be the captain of a team that gets the support from all team members,” he said.
An event of this magnitude contested by five foreign countries which was organized by the Baseball Association of Sri Lanka showed that Sri Lanka is a safe destination for sports.