LAHORE: Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi on Tuesday urged his team to forget the humbling eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka to swiftly shift their focus to the ODI tri-series final, scheduled to be played against the same opposition on Saturday.
The hosts, who had already booked their spot in the final on the back of their sensational one-wicket victory over England on Sunday, entered their last league-stage fixture with high spirits as they were on a three-match winning streak.
Put into bat first in the recently concluded fixture, Pakistan's batting unit, however, faltered and was bundled out for a modest 110 in 25.3 overs, registering their second-lowest ODI total at the venue, only behind their 75 all out, which coincidentally also came against Sri Lanka in 2009.
Babar Azam remained the top-scorer for the Green Shirts with a cautious 33-ball 29, followed by Hasan Nawaz, who made 17 off 31. Besides them, only captain Shaheen (15) and emerging all-rounder Arafat Minhas (10) could amass double figures.
In turn, Sri Lanka made light work of the 111-run target as they chased it down for the loss of just two wickets and 191 balls to spare, handing the host nation their first defeat in the ODI tri-series to book their place in the final, while their triumph also drew curtains on England's hopes of qualifying for the summit clash.
Left-handed opener Kamindu Mendis spearheaded Sri Lanka's pursuit with an unbeaten half-century and returned after top-scoring with a 60-ball 62, studded with eight fours and two sixes.
Reflecting on his team's first defeat in the ongoing home assignment, Pakistan captain Shaheen rued their top order's struggles since the start of the ODI tri-series and stressed that the rare failure from the middle order in the recent fixture added to their batting woes.
Shaheen, however, insisted that the Green Shirts should move forward from the defeat and vowed to address their batting struggles ahead of the final.
"Unfortunately, for the last three or four games we are collapsing in the top order. We've had three wins and lost today," said Shaheen at the post-match presentation.
"We should forget that and move forward. We have three days now, and we can practice," he added.
The skipper then expressed confidence in his team to bat stronger in the final against Sri Lanka, reiterating the need to forget the crushing defeat and instead urged taking "positives" from the previous fixtures.
"We will come back in the final and bat stronger. We need to forget this game quickly and take the positives from the previous games."
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