COLOMBO: Pakistan recovered from a mid-innings wobble to post a total 277-7 of in their second World Cup match against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan led the way as the visitors reconstructed their innings after a comic run out left them 76-2.
Younis (72) and Misbah (83) scored their second consecutive half-centuries of the World Cup, after scoring 50 and 64, respectively against Kenya in Pakistan’s opening game on Wednesday.
Captain Shahid Afridi also contributed towards the end of the innings, with 16 runs.
In the 14th over of the innings, Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal were left wondering which of them was out after a mix-up left them both comically stranded at the same end.
Kamran Akmal scampered to the striker’s end for a quick single when Hafeez swept the ball behind the wicket facing off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s in the 13th over.
Hafeez did not move an inch, even after Sri Lanka wicketkeeper and skipper Kumar Sangakkara’s initial throw eluded Muralitharan. Angelo Mathews successfully returned it to the bowler for the simplest of run outs.
For a couple of agonising minutes – for Pakistan – the confused batsmen tried to figure out who faced his marching orders before Hafeez trudged disconsolately back to the pavilion after a brief consultation with the umpires.
Kamran Akmal was later stumped by Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara off the bowling of Rangana Herath for 39 runs. His brother Umar, meanwhile, could only manage 10 runs after top-scoring against Kenya with 71 runs.
Opener Ahmed Shehzad was the first man to be dismissed, caught behind in the sixth over for 13 runs.
Sri Lanka have never beaten Pakistan in a World Cup match, but to be fair to them, the last time they faced their Asian neighbours was in 1992. This was approximately the time when Pakistan cricket was at its peak under Imran Khan’s leadership, after which there has rarely been an uneventful year for them.
This was also when a much more combative, aggressive Sri Lanka team was coming together under Arjuna Ranatunga’s leadership.
At the Premadasa Stadium, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are neck-to-neck with five wins apiece. However, Sri Lanka have lost their last three encounters to Pakistan at the ground.
