Pakistan crush Zimbabwe to cruise into quarters

Shahid Afridi

KANDY, Sri Lanka, (Reuters) – Asad Shafiq shone on  his World Cup debut with a cultured unbeaten 78 yesterday as  Pakistan stormed into the quarter-finals with a comprehensive  seven-wicket victory against Zimbabwe in a rain-truncated match.

Shahid Afridi

Taking full advantage of Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura’s  dubious decision to bat first under an overcast sky, pace duo of  Umar Gul (3-36) and Abdul Razzaq (1-24) rattled the Africans by  reducing them to 13-3 inside six overs in the Group A match.

Zimbabwe could not really recover from there.

The subsequent rain interruptions made Zimbabwe’s task even  more difficult and they were reeling at 151-7 in 39.4 overs when  another rain delay dropped curtains on their innings, built  largely around Craig Ervine’s gritty 52.

Pakistan were set a revised target of 162 off 38 overs under  the Duckworth/Lewis method and Shafiq’s mature knock ensured the  1992 champions joined Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in  the knock out stages from this group.

Pakistan will also be happy with Kamran Akmal’s improved  show behind the stumps and will hope the couple of catches he  took would boost his confidence after his place looked in  jeopardy following his disappointing performance against New  Zealand.

Playing Shafiq as the replacement for the injured Umar Akmal  also clicked as the 25-year-old right-hander responded with a  responsible display.

“Shafiq played an amazing innings. We gave him a chance and  he availed himself of it,” said Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi.

But then there are a couple of other issues that did not pan  out as Pakistan had planned.

Afridi promoted himself in the batting order hoping to wrap  up the match early but he lasted just four balls.

“I tried to finish the game early but I could not. I’m sure  I will perform with the bat. My team needs my batting  contribution as well,” Afridi said.

Also, openers Mohammad Hafeez (49) and Ahmed Shehzad (8)  once again failed to click as a pair even against a team with  considerable bowling limitations.

Pakistan play Australia in their last Group A match on  Saturday, while Zimbabwe sign off their group campaign against  Kenya a day later.