Fakhar's Final: Pakistan Chase 326 to Lift the Tri-Series in Lahore

Finals are supposed to be cagey. Nobody told Lahore.

Sri Lanka batted first at a heaving Gaddafi Stadium and did almost everything right. Kamindu Mendis played the innings of his life, 131 from 128 balls, all wrists and timing and that ambidextrous calm that makes bowlers question their life choices. Pavan Rathnayake added 77 from 65, and Sri Lanka closed on 325 for 8. In a final, away from home, that is a score you defend and lift a trophy behind.

Then Fakhar Zaman happened. Pakistan lost Maaz Sadaqat and Babar Azam inside the first few overs and sat at 14 for 2, the chase wobbling before it had begun. Fakhar responded the way he always has in finals, by treating the occasion like a net session with better catering. His 127 from 99 balls, 11 fours and six sixes, rebuilt the innings and then bent it toward Pakistan. Saad Baig, playing the supporting hand of a veteran, made 74 from 75.

The chase still had one twist left. When Fakhar fell in the 34th over and Salman Agha followed soon after, Pakistan were 230 for 5 in the 37th, needing close to a hundred from the last stretch with the tail exposed. Arafat Minhas, batting at seven, settled it with the kind of innings that gets a young player remembered: 61 from 31 balls, fearless and clean, partnering Hasan Nawaz through the squeeze until only formalities remained. Faheem Ashraf fell for a golden duck at 324, because this match refused to end quietly, and captain Shaheen Afridi walked in and launched Dilshan Madushanka over deep midwicket to finish it with nine balls to spare. Pakistan 331 for 7. Trophy, theirs.

The number that will live longest from this night is 326. The target Pakistan chased is the joint-highest successfully hunted down in an ODI final, level with India's famous chase against England in the 2002 NatWest final at Lord's. Twenty-four years that mark stood alone. It has company now.

For Sri Lanka, the regret is real but so is the progress. Kamindu's hundred in a losing final still announced something, and Dilshan Madushanka's 3 for 63 kept them in a game that kept slipping. For Pakistan, a first ODI tri-series title since 2008, won at home, in a chase for the ages. Finals are supposed to be cagey. This one was a riot.