Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 11 runs in their second match of the ICC World Cup 2011 at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Chasing Pakistan’s 277/7, Sri Lanka managed only 266/9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bat first. Ahmed Shehzad (13) departed early but Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal added 48 runs in quick time when Hafeez was run out for 32 runs. He hit four fours and a six from 31 balls. Akmal hit a 48-ball 39 runs that included five fours before he was out stumped off the bowling of Rangana Herath.
Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq then raised 108 runs for the fourth wicket in just over 20 overs. Both the batsmen registered their successive half-centuries of the tournament. Younis hit 72 runs off 76 balls with four fours before he top-edged Herath to short fine-leg. Pakistan found it difficult to score in the slog overs as only 68 runs were scored off the final ten overs. Shahid Afridi hit a quick 16 runs from 12 balls while Misbah remained unbeaten on 83 runs that came from 91 balls and included six boundaries. For Sri Lanka, Herath (2/46) and Thisara Perera (2/62) took two wickets each.
Upul Tharanga (33) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (41) added 76 runs for the first wicket to give a decent start to the Sri Lankan chase. However, the equations changed completely after the introduction of spin as Sri Lanka lost four wickets to get reduced to 96/4 as Mahela Jayawardene (2) and Thilan Samaraweera (1) failed to capitalize on the start.
Kumar Sangakkara and Chamara Silva then added 73 runs for the fifth wicket to bring chase back to life. Sangakkara scored 49 runs from 61 balls with two fours and a six. Chamara Silva scored 57 runs but could not last till the end of the innings. Nuwan Kulasekara hit a quick 24 runs from 14 balls but that was not good enough as Pakistan emerged victors y 11 runs.
Shahid Afridi was yet again the star for Pakistan with figures of 4/34 from his ten overs and was rightly chosen the player of the match. He now has nine wickets from two matches in this World Cup.