At 37-2 their target seemed a long way off but a superb partnership of 176 off 156 balls between Abdullah Shafique and Muhammad Rizwan laid the platform.

As a replacement for Fakhar Zaman, Shafique made 113 off 103 balls before being caught at point, but Rizwan and Saud Shakeel shared 95 for the fourth wicket.

He received treatment for a back injury and calf cramp, but he fought through the pain heroically.

After being dismissed for 31 by Shakeel, the wicketkeeper hit the winning run and sees his side home with Iftikhar Ahmed (22*) with 10 balls to spare.

Kusal Mendis hit 122 from 77 balls and Sadeera Samarawickrama 108 from 89 balls as Sri Lanka made 344-9 from their 50 overs.

In the history of the World Cup, this is the first match to have four centuries.

Both of Pakistan’s matches have been won, while both of Sri Lanka’s have been lost.

The Pakistani approach seemed laboured at times and perhaps too slow to chase down the mammoth 345.

With Rizwan and Shafique leaving 163 from the final 20 overs, the required run-rate climbed to 8.5.

T20 cricket made this kind of chase the norm a few years ago, when teams would have stood no chance.

The tempo of the game was controlled even in those final 20 overs by Rizwan, Shafique and Shakeel.

Sri Lanka played many bad balls – which was well below the standard coach Chris Silverwood would have liked – and ran hard as a result.

The fact that Rizwan opens the batting for Pakistan in T20s and he reached 55 when they reached that many overs remaining left them as strong favorites.

He took it upon himself to see Pakistan home after his career-best 131.