Sri Lanka beat Pak, reach final of T20 World Cup

Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene, left, plays a shot as Pakistan's wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal watches during the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup semi-final match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Colombo on Thursday, October 4, 2012. Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 16 runs to reach the final.

Pakistan needed 32 runs off last three overs which is considered to be quite achievable by Twenty20 standards but Mendis and Malinga held their nerves giving only five and four runs respectively of the 18th and 19th over.

Pakistan were tottering at 91 for six at that stage and from there victory became out of question.

Nuwan Kulasekara, who bowled the 20th over, didn't have any pressure on him as he gave only seven runs to sent the capacity crowd into a tizzy.

Sri Lanka's Thisara Perera bats during the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup semifinal match.

Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene plays a shot against Pakistan during their ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup semi final match.

Pakistan's bowler Shahid Afridi celebrates taking the wicket of Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene, unseen.

Pakistan's bowler Saeed Ajmal gestures to his teammate after Sri Lanka's batsman Kumar Sangakkara, not seen, hit a boundary on his delivery during the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup semifinal match.

Pakistan's bowler Raza Hasan, right watches as Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardena, center and Tillakaratne Dilshan, left run between the wickets during the match.

Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan plays a shot during the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup semi final match.