Pakistan chase World Cup-record score of 345 to beat Sri Lanka in Hyderabad

Pakistan pulled off a Cricket World Cup-record run chase of 345 to beat Sri Lanka in Hyderabad and make it two wins from two to start the tournament.

Mohammad Rizwan (131no) and Abdullah Shafique (113) starred with the bat for Pakistan, the former hitting the winning run with 10 balls to spare to better Ireland's previous record of 329 to beat England in 2011.

Sri Lanka, conversely, have lost both of their opening matches after they were heavily beaten by South Africa in the tournament opener.

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Kusal Mendis (122) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (108) had earlier struck fine centuries of their own for Sri Lanka as they posted 344-9 after winning the toss and electing to make first use of the pitch.

Mendis capitalised on two early dropped catches inside the powerplay, going on to bring up his hundred in 65 balls with a six - the fastest by a Sri Lankan at the World Cup, eclipsing Kumar Sangakkara's 70-ball effort against England in 2015.

Hasan Ali (4-71) ultimately dismissed both Sri Lanka centurions and, along with the help of Haris Rauf (2-64) and Shaheen Afridi (1-66), helped drag Pakistan back into the contest as the innings sputtered to a finish.

With Sri Lanka in a superb position at 294-4 after 41 overs, Mohammad Nawaz (1-62) first removed Dhananjaya de Silva (25) to start the 42nd, triggering a run of five wickets for only 50 runs in the final nine overs.

In reply, Pakistan slipped to 37-2 inside eight overs as they lost Imam-ul-Haq (12) and captain Babar Azam (10) cheaply - both accounted for by Dilshan Madushanka (2-60).

But that only brought Shafique and Rizwan together at the crease, the pair promptly putting on 176 together for the third wicket, with Shafique going through to a maiden ODI hundred in just his fifth match.

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The 23-year-old opener was eventually dismissed and the partnership ended to start the 34th over, thanks to a stunning diving catch by sub-fielder Dushan Hemantha at backward point.

At that point, Pakistan still needed 132 further runs to win off 101 deliveries, but Rizwan superbly went up through the gears - ably supported by Saud Shakeel (31) and latterly Iftikhar Ahmed (22no) - as he notched a third ODI ton and cracked the winning run.

Rizwan left 'speechless' by match-winning knock

Player of the Match, Mohammad Rizwan:

"Whenever you perform for your country and the performance is like that to win the match, it leaves you speechless.

"It was difficult and when you chase like that it's always special. In the dressing room after we bowled, every player had the belief that we were going to chase that."

Sri Lanka captain, Dasun Shanaka:

"Mendis is in form at the moment and is in another zone. It's his time in the tournament and there's more to come from him.

"Also, Sadeera has been playing very well in the recent past so really happy with the way those guys played, but in the end we should have finished a bit stronger than this.

"With the way the wicket behaved, we were 20-25 runs short."

What's next?

The Cricket World Cup continues with a clash between hosts India and Afghanistan on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 9am (first ball at 9.30am).

Pakistan are next in action on Saturday, also against India, in a mouth-watering matchup, while Sri Lanka's next match is against Australia on Monday - both games live on Sky Sports Cricket from 9am (first ball at 9.30am). Full World Cup fixture list and timings can be found here.

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