Shahid Afridi took his second five-wicket haul of the World Cup as Pakistan defeated Canada by 46 runs at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Chasing Pakistan achievable 184 runs, Canada were dismissed for just 138 runs in the 43rd over.
Shahid Afridi won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan lost Mohammad Hafeez (11) and Ahmed Shehzad (12) cheaply before situation further worsened with the dismissals of Younis Khan (6) and Kamran Akmal (16) to leave the team struggling at 67/4. Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal then added 73 runs for the fifth wicket. Umar Akmal top scored with 48 runs off 68 balls that included four fours and a six while Misbah scored 37 runs.
Pakistan lost their last five wickets for the addition of just 19 runs. Shahid Afridi (20) was the only other batsman to get into the double figures. Canada gave away 24 runs in extras. Harvir Baidwan took 3/35 while Rizwan Cheema (2/33), WD Balaji Rao (2/50) and Jimmy Hansra (2/23) chipped in with two wickets each.
Canada had dropped John Davison for this match but their luck with the bat did not change as they slumped to 16/2, losing both the openers. Shahid Afridi soon removed Ashish Bagai for 16 runs. Zubin Surkari (27) and Hansra then added 60 runs for the fourth wicket to bring Canada back into contention. Hansra scored 43 runs from 75 balls. However, the dismissal of Surkari triggered a collapse in which the last seven Canadian wickets fell for the addition of just 34 runs. Extras contributed 23 runs to the score.
The win took Pakistan to the top of the table with six points in three games. Afridi was the star for Pakistan yet again picking 5/23 off his ten overs. He took his World Cup tally to 14 wickets in just three matches and was rightly chosen as the player of the match, his second in as many matches.