Afridi spins Pakistan to a 11-run win over Sri Lanka

Captain Shahid Afridi spun Pakistan to a thrilling 11-run win over Sri Lanka in their second World Cup Group A match here Saturday.

Afridi grabbed four for 34 and also got his 301st ODI wicket as Sri Lanka, chasing a target of 277, made 266 for nine in 50 overs.

The win was Pakistan’s second sucessive in the tournament while Sri Lanka failed to register their maiden win against the 1992 champions.

Pakistan’s win was based on some gritty batting display by Misbah-ul-Haq (83 not out) and Younis Khan (72), who scored successive World Cup half centuries in a challenging Pakistan total of 277 for seven.

Sri Lanka started the chase with Upul Tharanga (33) and Tillekaratne Dilshan (41) adding 76 runs for the first wicket.

Dilshan and Tharanga looked to have Sri Lanka well placed to pull off what would have been the fifth-highest successful run chase in World Cup history.

But the departure of Tharanga in the 15th over triggered a mini collapse as Sri Lanka slipped to 96 for four.

Chamara Silva (57) and Kumar Sangakkara (49) led the recovery, but the co-hosts fell short by 11 runs and tasted their first ever World Cup defeat on home soil.

Afridi came up with another superb bowling performance and followed his five wickets against Kenya in the previous game with a four-wicket haul (4-34).