RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera grabbed 4-20 and stifled Pakistan in the final over as Sri Lanka breezed into the final of the T20 tri-series with a six-run victory on Thursday.
Pakistan, which had already qualified for Saturday’s final with three successive wins, was held to 178-7 with captain Salman Ali Agha’s career-best unbeaten 63 going in vain.
Opening batter Kamil Mishra’s 76 off 48 balls had earlier anchored Sri Lanka to 184-5 in a game the team had to win in order to reach the final instead of Zimbabwe.
“Proud of how the boys bounced back,” Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said. “Everybody contributed. … Of course Chameera (exhibited) world-class bowling.”
Chameera dented Pakistan’s chase with figures of 3-3 in the power play and then returned for the final over to concede just three runs when Pakistan required 10 for victory.
The tall fast bowler deceived Sahibzada Farhan (9) with a slower ball and had him caught at short cover before pinning Pakistan’s premier batter Babar Azam lbw for two-ball duck.
Left-handed batter Saim Ayub (27) once again couldn’t convert his aggressive start off 18 balls before he dragged Eshan Malinga back onto his stumps. Chameera had Pakistan on the mat at 4-43 in the sixth over when Fakhar Zaman holed out at mid-on.
Agha and Usman Khan (33) put the chase back on track with an aggressive 56-run stand before Wanindu Hasaranga broke through in the 13th over and Khan sliced a catch to short third.
But Agha and Mohammad Nawaz (27) cut lose in the death overs with a rapid 70-run stand off 36 balls before Malinga struck in the penultimate over and had Nawaz caught at long-on. Chameera then sealed the game by hitting the right lengths.
Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Mishara and Kusal Mendis (40) gave Sri Lanka a breezy start of 58-1 inside the first six overs after Salman Mirza had Pathum Nissanka (8) bowled in the third over.
Mendis smashed six boundaries and a six before he was undone by Abrar Ahmed’s quicker delivery that skidded into him and had him trapped plumb leg before wicket.
But Mishara kept scoring at a good pace as he swept well in front of the wicket before he eventually perished in the 17th over when he holed out at deep mid-wicket.
Janith Liyanage (24 not out) and captain Shanaka (17 not out) then smashed 24 runs of the final two overs of Mirza and Mohammad Wasim which proved enough for Sri Lanka to defend.
“I think it was gettable with the dew coming in but we lost too many wickets in the powerplay and gave away too many runs in the powerplay,” Agha said. “If you give too many runs in the powerplay, you’ll always be chasing the game. I would have been happier if I had finished the game but it was good to spend some time out in the middle.”
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis plays a shot during the third one day international cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Sri Lanka’s Kamil Mishara plays a shot during the second one day international cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera, center, celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of Pakistan’s Saim Ayub during the second one day international cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
ISTANBUL (AP) — Pope Leo XIV wrapped up his visit to Turkey on Sunday before heading to Lebanon, where he aimed to bring a message of hope to its long-suffering people and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.
Leo had two key appointments in Istanbul before flying to Beirut: a prayer at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral and a divine liturgy with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, whose invitation to commemorate an important Christian anniversary was the impetus for Leo’s visit.
Leo processed into the Armenian cathedral in a cloud of incense as a male choir chanted. He praised the “courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people throughout history, often amid tragic circumstances.” It was a reference to the World War I-era slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.
Pope Francis had termed the massacre a “genocide,” angering Turkey, which denies a genocide took place. Leo was more diplomatic in his words on Turkish soil.
On the second leg of his maiden papal trip, Leo will visit Lebanon at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country after years of successive crises. He is fulfilling a promise of Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit for years, but was unable to as his health worsened.
Francis often quoted St. John Paul II, who in 1989 said that Lebanon was more than just a country. It was a “message” — a message of fraternity and coexistence. Under Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the country’s president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliamentary speaker a Shiite.
Lebanon, a Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian, has always been a priority for the Vatican, a bulwark for Christians throughout the region. After years of conflict, Christian communities that date from the time of the Apostles have shrunk.
Leo was expected to try to encourage Lebanese who believe their leaders have failed them, and to encourage Lebanese Christians to stay or, if they have already moved abroad, to come home.
“The Holy Father is coming at a very difficult moment for Lebanon and for our region,” said Bishop George, archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut. Lebanese are worried about the future, he said, and still fear a possible return to all-out war with Israel.
“In this difficult moment, the pope’s visit is a sign of hope. It shows that Lebanon is not forgotten,” he told reportersbefore the visit.
In 2019, the country’s currency and banking system collapsed and many Lebanese saw their savings evaporate. The financial crisis drove shortages of electricity, fuel and medicine.
Another disaster followed in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored at the Beirut port detonated in an explosion that blasted through the surrounding neighborhoods, killing 218 people, wounding thousands more and causing billions of dollars in damage.
The highlight of Leo’s Lebanese visit will come on his last day, Dec. 2, when he spends time in silent prayer at the site of the blast on Aug. 4, 2020, and meets with some of its victims.
Lebanese citizens were enraged by the blast, which appeared to be the result of government negligence, coming on top of the economic crisis. But an investigation has repeatedly stalled, and five years on, no official has been convicted.
There are hopes among Lebanese that Leo will demand accountability from Lebanon’s political class and insist that there can be no peace without truth and justice.
Another important moment will come when Leo meets with young Lebanese. He’s expected to give them words of encouragement, amid the decades-long flight abroad, while also acknowledging their disillusionment over the failures of generations before them.
After the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah entered into a low-level conflict with Israel that escalated into a full-fledged war in September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and causing widespread destruction.
Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that nominally ended the conflict two months later, Israel continues to launch near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.
The pope “is coming to bless us and for the sake of peace,” said Farah Saadeh, a Beirut resident walking on the city’s seaside promenade. “We have to wait and see what will happen after he leaves, and we hope nothing is going to happen after his departure.”
Before Leo’s arrival, Hezbollah urged the pope to express his “rejection to injustice and aggression” that the country is being subjected to. It was a reference to the Israeli strikes. The group also urged its supporters to line up along the road the papal convoy will take from the airport to the presidential palace to pay their respects.
Hezbollah — a primarily Shiite group — has allied with several Christian political groups in the country, including the Free Patriotic Movement and Marada Movement.
However, the Christian party with the largest parliamentary bloc, the Lebanese Forces, is an opponent of Hezbollah and has criticized the group for pulling the country into a war with Israel.
In neighboring Syria, hundreds of thousands of Christians fled during the country’s 14 years of civil war.
The country’s former autocratic President Bashar Assad was ousted in an offensive led by Islamist insurgents last December. Since then, there have been outbreaks of sectarian violence and some attacks on religious minorities, including a suicide attack on a church in Damascus in June.
While the new government has condemned attacks on minorities, many accuse it of looking the other way or being unable to control allied armed groups.
A delegation of some 300 Syrian Christians, headed by a Greek Melkite Catholic priest, was set to travel to Lebanon to join a meeting between Leo and youth groups and pray in a public mass on Beirut’s waterfront.
“We are in need of someone like the pope to come and give us hope as Christians” at a time of “fear of an unknown future,” said 24-year-old Dima Awwad, one of the delegation members. “We wish that the pope would come to visit Syria as he visited Lebanon, to reassure the people and to feel that we are present as eastern Christians and that we need to be in this place.”
Abby Sewell reported from Beirut.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Children and Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian, background right, wait for Pope Leo XIV to celebrate a liturgy at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
Pope Leo XIV and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian celebrate a liturgy in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pope Leo XIV and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian arrive to celebrate a liturgy in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pope Leo XIV and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahag II Mashalian celebrate a liturgy in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I sign a joint declaration at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, during Pope’s first apostolic journey, in Istanbul, Turkey, November 29, 2025. (Dilara Senkaya/Pool Via AP)
Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, right, participate into the Doxology in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pope Leo XIV leaves at the end of the Doxology in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pope Leo XIV celebrates a Mass at the Volkswagen Arena, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians leave after attending the Doxology at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
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