Captain Shahid Afridi registered his fifth five-wicket
Captain Shahid Afridi registered his fifth five-wicket haul as Pakistan beat Canada by 46 runs in their World Cup clash at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Thursday.
Chasing 185, Canada had got off to a poor start losing their first three wickets with 44 runs on the board in 17.1 overs.
Umar Gul gave Pakistan the first breakthrough when he trapped Ruvindu Gunasekera plumb in front of the wicket and in the next over, Nitish Kumar edged a Abdul Razzaq delivery onto his stumps.
Afridi then trapped his Canadian counterpart Ashish Bagai plumb in front of the wicket for the third breakthrough. Afridi went for the review immediately after umpire Daryl Harper adjudged Bagai not out and got the decision in Pakistan's favour.
With a 60-run partnership for the fourth wicket, Surkari and Jimmy Hansra had steadied Canada before the Pakistani spinners struck in quick succession.
Saeed Ajmal trapped Surkari plumb in front of the wicket and got it in his favour after going for a review.
Afridi then took four wickets in three overs to rock Canada. Afridi first clean bowled the big-hitting Rizwan Cheema with a googly.
In his next over, Afridi clean bowled Hansra and Harvir Baidwan to become the first bowler to take three consecutive four-wicket hauls in World Cup cricket.
In his next over, Afridi had Tyson Gordon caught by Wahab Riaz to register his fifth five-wicket haul.
Earlier, Canada produced a spirited bowling display to restrict former champions Pakistan to 184.
Pakistan found the disciplined Canada attack to hot to handle as, after opting to bat, they lost wickets at regular intervals to be finally bundled out inside the 200-run mark in 43 overs.
If not for the 73-run fifth wicket stand between Misbah-ul-Haq (37) and Umar Akmal (48), Pakistan could have folded up for a lesser total as they lost their last six wickets for just 44 runs.
India-born medium-pacer Harvir Baidwan was the pick of the Canada bowlers with figures of three for 35 runs while Jimmy Hansra (2/23), Rizwan Cheema (2/33) and Balaji Rao (2/50) snared two wickets apiece to spell Pakistan's doom.
Even though there were no demons in the pitch, Pakistan were off to a shaky start as the 1992 champions lost their first four batsmen for just 67 runs after electing to bat.
Opener Mohammad Hafeez started positively as he picked up Henry Osinde for special treatment in his first and innings second over, spanking the right-arm pacer for back-to-back boundaries.
But Osinde took his revenge in the first delivery of his next over, trapping Hafeez lbw but not before the batsman went for the review which went against him.
Baidwan struck the second blow for Canada in the ninth over, dismissing Ahmed Shehzad caught by Gordon at mid-on.
Baidwan then trapped Younis Khan lbw in the 13th over with a full length delivery that was tilting in towards middle and leg, prompting the batsman to go for another unsuccessful review.
And then two overs later, Kamran Akmal too departed caught at the backward point region by Nitish Kumar off Cheema to ensure a dream start for Canada.
But then came in ever-reliable Misbah and together with young Umar Akmal, he steadied the rocking Pakistani ship with the 73-run stand.
After the shocking start, the duo took their time to settle in as they mostly dealt with ones and twos with occasional boundaries in between during their 117-ball partnership.
But after all the hard work when it was time for Misbah and Umar Akmal to accelerate, leg-spinner Rao inflicted twin blows, dismissing both the set batsmen with the Pakistan scoreboard reading 165/6.
Rao first trapped Umar plumb in front of the wicket just two short of his half-century and then four overs later he accounted for Misbah, caught by captain Asish Bagai behind the stumps.
Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi (20) and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq failed to live upto their reputation with the former becoming Cheema's third victim.
The lower-order did very little to help Pakistan's cause as they lost their last four batsmen within a span of three runs.
