Salman Agha's century and Shaheen's three wickets give Pakistan a winning start in the tri-series

Pakistan opened the home ODI tri-series exactly how fans wanted: a big total, a captain’s spell from Shaheen Shah Afridi and a 37-run win over Sri Lanka at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday night.

The match in numbers

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl. Pakistan were bowled out for 305 in 49.5 overs, and Sri Lanka were all out for 268 in 48.1 overs.

	Runs	Balls / overs
Salman Agha (PAK)	107	90 balls
Babar Azam (PAK)	45	57 balls
Pavan Rathnayake (SL)	79	74 balls
Janith Liyanage (SL)	60	74 balls
Shaheen Afridi (PAK)	3/55	10 overs
Naseem Shah (PAK)	2/43	10 overs
Eshan Malinga (SL)	4/46	9.5 overs

Salman Agha was named player of the match for his 107 off 90 balls. It held the innings together after Eshan Malinga’s four wickets kept pulling Pakistan back.

The bigger deal

Rathnayake and Liyanage put on a fight in the middle overs, and for a while 306 looked gettable. In the end the bowlers shared the work: Shaheen, now leading the ODI side, finished with three wickets, Naseem took two for 43, and Haris Rauf took the last wicket to seal it.

What’s next

This is a seven-match tri-series between Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka, split between Rawalpindi and Lahore:

• Tue 20 Oct: Pakistan vs England, Rawalpindi
• Thu 22 Oct: Sri Lanka vs England, Rawalpindi
• Sun 25 Oct: Pakistan vs England, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
• Tue 27 Oct: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Lahore
• Thu 29 Oct: Sri Lanka vs England, Lahore
• Sat 31 Oct: Final, Lahore

England, led by Harry Brook and with Joe Root and Adil Rashid in the squad, are the real test. A win on Tuesday would put Pakistan in a strong position for the final.