Anyone who underestimates Pakistan and think they are here to make up the numbers were very wrong after there super display against Sri Lanka as they went out there and beat the co-hosts by 11 runs. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. The reason for batting here was that teams who bat second normally loss on this track.
The openers for Pakistan got them off to an steady but an spectacular start. Shehzad was the first man to go for 13 off good bowling by Perera who got the nick for the captain Sangakkara to get the first wicket. Even the exciting kamran Akmal started off a bit slowly. But after getting through the opening stages they started to get move on with the run rate but before Hafeez (the other opener) started to hit the ball around the park he got run out by the retiring legend Muralitharan. The new man was Younus Khan. Pakistan got to 100 without and Pakistan looked comfortable until Akmal raced down the pitch to try and loft Herath out of the ground but he missed and Sri Lanka's captain Sangakkara stumped him out. This bought out Misbah-ul-Haq into the crease. The 2 key and experienced players for Pakistan.
These 2 experienced players used the calmness and there knowledge to get the Pakistan innings ticking over. They were not taken a lot of risks but at the same time they were keeping the score ticking over. They were happy to take the 1s and 2s and wait for the bad ball to put away. They were the perfect batsman to be out there to move the Pakistan innings forward. The 50 partnership came up in 59 balls with the minimum about of risk apart from a couple of play and misses.
Younis Khan reached his 50 within 56 balls by scoring 1s and 2s. He had only scored 3 4s for his 50. It was a masterstroke of showing how to pace an innings and how you can build pressure without scoring boundaries. They soon reached there 100 partnership off 113 balls. In that partnership was one of the best controlled innings of this world cup. It was making a really good platform in the end overs for the big hitters to get the runs at the end.
Misbah-ul-Haq soon also made his 50 as he got it off 65 balls. He was anchoring the innings all the way through to his 50. He only scored one 4 in that innings so far. Younus Khan was eventually out for 72 as Herath got him where he miscued a shot and went straight to the vice captain Jayawardene. That brought in the exciting and dangerous Umar Akmal.
It also looked like Misbah-ul-Haq unlocked the shackles as he started to hit the ball around the park as well. So much so that Umar Akmal was playing second fiddle to Misbah-ul-Haq and trying to get him back on strike. Umar did get out to the hero of Sri Lanka Muralitharan as he was gone for 10 runs. One big hitter going out and another came in Shahid Afridi. He is known as Boom Boom back home for hitting the ball a long way. He didn't hang around as got 16 runs and that included 3 boundaries and as quickly as he came in he went out Mathews got him. Razzaq tried to get a few runs before the end and he got himself out on the last bowl of the innings as they notched up an impressive 277- 7 off there 50 with Misbah-ul-Haq not out on 83 and Younus Khan giving him great support with 72.
Sri Lanka started there reply really well as Tharanga and Dilshan started to hit the ball around the park. They were finding the seamer's easy to put away at the start. Off the first powerplay Sri Lanka were 42 without loss. They took the second powerplay and Sri Lanka seemed to put on the gas as the runs started to pour out. They were moving towards an wicketless 2 powerplays when Hafeez got Tharanga on the final over of the second powerplay but the first wicket did put on 76 for the first wicket and they were 78-1 at the end of the second powerplay. It brought out the captain Sangakkara to the crease.
The captain then brought himself on and the change of pace from both seemed to have worked as Dilshan got cleaned bowled by Pakistan captain. He then put Akhtar (his quickest bowler), also known as the Rawalpindi express, back into the attack and and he got an key wicket as clean bowled Jayawardene (the vice captain) for 2 runs. It got from bad to worse for Sri Lanka as Samaraweera was stumped but by kamran Akmal off the bowling of Shahid Afridi. Sangakkara on the other end didnt look too clever either as he was struggling to get hold of any of the bowls of Pakistan. Sangakkara was joined at the crease by Silva as they tried to rebuild this innings.
Even though Sangakkara was struggling out there against the spin and the clever bowling by the seamer's (in there second spell) he was fighting in there by holding onto his wicket. At the other end Silva was solid but didnt look threating. They did keep the score ticking over as these 2 were trying to get Sri Lanka within distance for them to have a go at the end to get to 277. The 50 runs partnership came up within 82 balls and that was fine the rate they were going unless they lost a wicket. These 2 needed to get them close to the target.
As the partnership started to flow together disaster fell for Sri Lanka and there captain as he lofted an easy catch to off the bowling of his counter part. He was out for an uncomfortable 49. They were now down to there last batting pair as Mathews came to the crease. Mathews did put a lot of impetus into the innings but he the asking rate was getting up on Sri Lanka and Afridi got him a similar way to how Sangakkara got out and everyone felt there chance had gone.
Perera had come in and his job was to give Silva as much as the strike as possible to give Sri Lanka the best chance to go for this target. He did to an certain extent but was bowled by Akhtar slower yorker. Soon afterwards the game was up as Silva also went out to Rehman as he was trying to go for a big 6 missed the ball and got stumped and Akmal did the rest of the job. Kulasekara tried his best by scoring an spirited 24 off 14 balls but Gul got him out and the match went out to an sad conclusion for the home supporters. They got to 266-9 in there 50 which is a 11 run loss.
Sri Lanka have a chance to bounce back as they play Kenya. Kenya look the weakest side of all the sides in the world cup and playing the hosts I cant see Kenya putting on much of a show.
As for Pakistan they face the other non-test nation in there group Canada. I think Canada can give Pakistan a good game but I believe that Pakistan will win in the end. Both teams still are on course making it to the quarters. Looking ahead for both teams it will be interesting when Pakistan and Sri Lanka play the 3 times holders Australia and see what shape these teams are in having a chance of winning this competition.
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