Afridi’s four-for wins it again for Pakistan

By Suneer Chowdhary

 

The support that the captain Kumar Sangakkara needed came from Chamara Silva. The problem, however, was that the pair was far slower than the required rate.

By Suneer Chowdhary

Colombo: Feb 26, 2011

 

The last time a side batting second had got to a score of more than 270 to win a game at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo was nine years back. It had needed a couple of scorching centuries from Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly at the top of the innings for the Indians to get there. Sri Lanka had no such centurions.

 

Sri Lanka started the chase well. After a fidgety beginning from Tillakaratne Dilshan, when he tried to send every shot down to the sweeper fence, he settled down quickly. So did Upul Tharanga as they maintained a run-rate of five runs to the over in the first 15. The captain would have probably wanted more from them in terms of rapidity but they looked to have compensated by not losing a wicket.

 

The importance of having all their wickets intact would have dawned upon the side after the home team collapsed once the slower bowlers came on. Mohammad Hafeez was surprisingly the first spinner to bowl and he stuck in his third over by sending Tharanga back.

 

Wasting no time in getting himself on, Shahid Afridi got Dilshan to cut a straightish ball onto his stumps and then had Thilan Samaraweera stumped off a delivery that would have had most leg-spinners proud. Between these two, Shoaib Akhtar was also called upon for another spell and that saw Mahela Jayawardene getting castled off a quick in-cutter. Sri Lanka were now staring down the wrong end of the barrel at 96 for 4.

 

The support that the captain Kumar Sangakkara needed came from Chamara Silva. The problem, however, was that the pair was far slower than the required rate. Picture this, Silva took 66 deliveries before he hit his first boundary and the slowing track made it no easier for Sangakkara as well.

 

With the asking rate having touched 8.5, the batting Powerplay was taken. The matters only worsened as 35 came off those five while Afridi clinched the wicket of Sangakkara – his third in the game and the 300^th in ODI cricket.

 

Angelo Mathews added 40 with the now-accelerating Silva before Afridi accounted for him. Silva completed his half-century but Thisara Perera’s wicket to Akhtar was followed by Silva’s and the chase had assumed near-improbable proportions. And surely enough, despite a 15-ball 24 by Nuwan Kulasekera in the end, Sri Lanka fell 11 short.

 

Pakistan had a poor 2010 and a huge chunk of the reason for it was related to their poor batting. The rise of Misbah-ul-Haq and the comeback of Younis Khan into the fragile middle-order seems to have injected enough strength into it in recent times – leading up to the World Cup and in the two innings so far.

 

Today, after Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez had overcompensated their slow starts against Kenya and were dismissed for quick-fire cameos and Kamran Akmal had played a stroke bereft of any thinking, it was left to Misbah and Younis to get the side back into the game.

 

In a way they were fortunate with the run rate. By the time the openers had departed, 76 had been scored in 13 overs. By the time Akmal went, it was still 105 in the 21^st. The pair took their time to get going but once they did, the singles leaked with force. The boundaries were shunned like they were temptations best avoided and it was a lesson in running between the wickets for those watching – especially the Kiwi batsmen from yesterday.

 

Younis got to his half-century while Misbah followed him soon after. The 200 was raised in the 40^th over, and by the time the 108-run stand was ended by Rangana Herath, a solid platform had been established. Sadly for Pakistan, only 68 came off the last 10 overs despite the presence of both Misbah and the batting Powerplay.

 

As it turned out, it proved to be enough.

 

Brief Scores: Pakistan 277 for 7 in 50 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 83*, Younis Khan 72, Kamran Akmal 39, Mohammad Hafeez 32; Rangana Herath 2 for 46, Thisara Perera 2 for 62) bt Sri Lanka 266 for 9  in 50 overs (Chamara Silva 57, Kumar Sangakkara 49, Tillakaratne Dilshan 41, Upul Tharanga 33, Shahid Afridi 4 for 34, Shoaib Akhtar 2 for 42) by 11 runs

(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here @suneerchowdhary)

 

 

Pictures © Getty Images

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