Pak vs WI : Pakistan beat West Indies to reach semis
Pakistan stormed into the semi finals of Cricket World Cup 2011 on Wednesday by defeating West Indies by 10 wickets in a completely one-sided clash.
Batting first West Indies could only pose a total of 112 runs for the loss of all wickets.
Pakistan reached the target of 113 runs in just 20.5 overs in the first quarter-final match of the Cup.
The Pakistani bowlers were in full swing on Wednesday afternoon at the Shere Bangla National Stadium as none of the West Indian batsmen apart from Chanderpaul finding a clue to face
them.
Afridi made a good strategy in the game as he made spinner Mohammad Hafeez open the bowling with Gul.
Gul gave Pakistan the first and the most important break through in the match by picking up Gayle in his second over.
Hafeez then produced two magical deliveries in the same over to pick up two crucial wickets of D Smith (7) and Darren Bravo (0), West Indies scored card showed 16 for the loss of 3 wickets at that juncture of the game.
Ramnaresh Sarwan (24) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul tried to drag the West Indian innings to a respectable total after the initial blow from the Pakistan bowlers.
The two put on a fourth wicket partnership of 42 runs till Ramnaresh Sarwan got out to Shahid Afridi.
West Indian hopes were completely shattered when their last recognized batsman Kieron Pollard (1) also failed with his willow and returned back to the pavilion in a crucial point of the innings.
The West Indian innings wrapped up at 112 runs with Chanderpaul remaining unbeaten on 44 runs.
Shahid Afridi once again remained the pick of the Pakistani attack as he took four wickets in the game by giving away only 30 runs.
Chasing an easy target of 112 runs for victory, Pakistan batsmen easily reached the score of 113 runs without loosing a wicket.
Kamran Akmal (47*) and Mohammad Hafeez (61*) played sensibly till the end to book their place for the semi final where they will face the winner of Indian-Australia match.
Hafeez was declared the Man of the Match for his exceptional performance both with the bat and the ball.
“I really worked hard over the last couple of days and it worked for me. The coach told me a couple of days back that I would bowl with the new ball, and I tried it at the nets. I just kept them on a line and length today, and it worked,” Hafeez said.
“This is a great gift to give back to the nation on Pakistan Day. We tried to stick to our plans and the boys have done a great job doing that. Kamran and Hafeez did really well,” Shahid Afridi said at the end of the match.
Appreciating Hafeez’s performance in the match the Pakistani skipper said: “We had tried Rehman against New Zealand and Australia, he did well, and today we backed Hafeez and he pulled it off with the ball.”
