Afridi lifts Pakistan
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Colombo: Shahid Afridi strikes again, just like the last time against Kenya where he misfired with the bat but poured heavily with bowling, here in front of a sell-out crowd of 35,000 of the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo to put Pakistan back in the game.
The game seemed slowly slipping away from Pak hands after the Upul Tharanga-Tillakaratne Dilshan team’s opening stand of 76. But Pak saviour has come in the dress of Afridi.
Afridi took the wickets of Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera and was instrumental in taking out Tharanga.
Shoaib Akhtar ended the first spell economically but without any wickets. In the second spell he brought out a beauty to send the dangerman Mahela Jayawardene back. He will be mulling to bring back Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq who could not impress in the first spell.
The pressure is mounting on Kumar Sangakkara and Chamara Silva as they now have two jobs in hand, one to stop the free flow of wickets and to chase down the 277 target.
Earlier, after opting to bat, Pakistan scored 277 for seven to set up a mouthwatering run chase for Sri Lanka.
Pakistan, seeking to keep intact their record of never having lost a World Cup match against Sri Lanka, made a bright start and were indebted to an unbeaten 83 from Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and 72 from Younis Khan.
The Sri Lankan opening bowlers were expensive but the spin attack helped rein in Pakistan, with Rangana Herath taking 2 for 46 and Muttiah Muralitharan 1 for 35 off his 10 overs.
Younis said the team were looking for 10-15 extra runs from the final powerplay, adding: "But sometimes you know the plan does not work."
When asked whether they had enough runs on the board, he said: "Yes, I think so. 270-plus is a good score. If we bowl well and especially field well I think we will win the match."
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