Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Lankans go down to Pakistan

By The Assam Tribune

COLOMBO, Feb 26 (PTI): Host Sri Lanka went down to Pakistan by 11 runs in a group-A match of World Cup here today.

Chasing a huge target of 278 Sri Lanka managed to score 266 for the loss of nine wickets .

Earlier, Misbah-ul-Haq (unbeaten 83) and Younis Khan (72) hit half-centuries to guide Pakistan to a competitive 277 for seven in their second World Cup league match against Sri Lanka here today.

Younis and Misbah did the bulk of scoring by sharing 108 runs for the fourth wicket after Pakistan elected to bat in their Group A match at the Premadasa Stadium.

Opener Mohammed Hafeez and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal contributed 32 and 39 respectively.

Pakistan�s total, however, could not touch the 300-run mark as managed just 68 runs in the last 10 overs despite having seven wickets in hand after the 40th over.

Captain Shahid Afridi contributed 16 from 12 balls and was out in the penultimate over.

Pakistan were off to a good start, scoring 65 in the first 10 overs though they lost the wicket of inexperienced opener Ahmed Shehzad during that time.

Sri Lankan pacemen Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera were expensive in their first spells of five overs each though the latter removed Shehzad (13) in the sixth over with a delivery that moved away slightly after pitching outside off stump for Kumar Sangakkara to take the edge.

The other opener Mohammad Hafeez then creamed Kulasekara for a six and a four in the next over before one-down Kamran Akmal hit the same bowler for two fours in the same over.

Just as Pakistan were looking to take control of their innings, they lost their second wicket with Hafeez being run out following a horrible mix-up in the 14th over.

Hafeez swept a Muttiah Muralitharan delivery to short fine leg and Kamran ran all the way to the other end without his seeing that his partner was unmoved from his crease.

Sangakkara�s throw went past Muralitharan who was standing at the non-striker�s end and Hafeez, who did not move an inch earlier, thought of running for a fleeting moment but returned back to his crease. Muralitharan dislodged the bail and it was Hafeez who was ruled run out by the umpires.

SCORECARD

Pakistan

Shehzad c Sangakkara b Perera 13

Hafeez run out 32

K Akmal st Sangakkara b Herath 39

Younis c Jayawardene b Herath 72

Misbah not out 83

U Akmal c Dilshan b Muralitharan 10

Afridi c Dilshan b Mathews 16

Razzaq c sub b Perera 3

Extras (LB-4, WD-5) 9

Total (For 7 wkts in 50 overs) 277

Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-76, 3-105,

4-213, 5-238, 6-267, 7-277.

Bowling: Kulasekara 10-1-64-0, Perera 9-0-62-2, Mathews 10-0-56-1, Muralitharan 10-0-35-1, Herath 10-0-46-2, Dilshan 1-0-10-0.

sri lanka

Tharanga c Afridi b M Hafeez 33

Dilshan b Afridi 41

Sangakkara c A Shehzad b Afridi 49

D Jayawardene b Akhtar 2

T Samaraweera st K Akmal b Afridi 1

L Silva st K Akmal b A Rehman 57

A Mathews c A Shehzad b Afridi 18

Perera b Akhtar 8

Kulasekara c A Akmal b Gul 24

Herath not out 4

Muralitharan not out 0

Extras: (b 1, lb 9, w 16, nb 2) 28

Total: (9 wickets; 50 overs) 266

Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-88, 3-95, 4-96, 5-169, 6-209, 7-232, 8-233, 9-265.

Bowling: Akhtar 10-0- 42-2, Razzaq 5-1-23-0, Gul 9-0-60-1, M Hafeez 6-0-33-1, Afridi 10-0-34-4, A Rehman 10-1-63-1.

Next Story