Colombo – Pakistan clinched a thriller by 11 runs against one of the top favourites of the tournament, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka managed to get too close courtesy to sloppy fielding by Pakistani players. Kamran Akmal get involved in two missed stumping chances and Abdul Rehman missed an absolute sitter on the bowling of Umar Gul.
Shahid Afridi, leading from the front, took four wickets in his bowling quota of ten overs giving just 34 runs. He was named man of the match for his match-winning bowling spell. Shoaib Akhtar took two wickets; while Umar Gul, Muhammad Hafeez and Abdul Rehman shared a piece each.
Pakistan set a good target of 278 for Sri Lanka batting first after winning the toss. Pakistan Openers, Muhammad Hafeez (32) and Ahmed Shahzad (13), provided a good start but couldn't last long. Pakistan lost both of the openers on 76 runs. Kamran Akmal also played a good fluent innings of 39 runs and got stamped out showing a bit of impatience to Rangana Herath.
Then experience of veteran Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq came into play and they added 108 runs in a crucial 5th wicket partnership. Misbah-ul-Haq firmunbeaten on 83 runs while Younis Khan fell prey to Rangana Herath after contributing 72 valuable runs.
Pakistan missed batting powerplay fireworks but succeeded to get a reasonably good fighting total of 277.
Sri Lankan bowlers had a good show by curtailing Pakistan under 300 mark; which on one point seemed to be very achievable. Rangana Herath and Thissara Perera picked up two wickets each; while Angelo Mathews and Muttiah Muralithara shared one wicket each. The spin-wizard Muralitharan was the most economical as he gave only 35 runs in his ten overs.
Pakistan will take on Canada on March 3 at Colombo; while Sri Lanka is scheduled to face Kenya on March 1.
Pakistan now on the top of the Group ‘A’ with four points after two wins. Australia also got four points but Pakistan is ahead of Australia in terms of Net Run Rate (NRR). Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are on position umber 2,3 and 4 respectively. Detailed Table is given below with each team’s respective points and NRR.
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