Asad Shafiq scored his maiden world cup fifty as Pakistan cruised into the quarter-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 after beating Zimbabwe by seven wickets on Duckworth/Lewis Method in their crucial Group A match at Pallekele Stadium here Monday.
Asad Shafiq. Courtesy: Getty Images
Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura, who was celebrating his 25th birthday, won the toss and decided to bat first on a pitch which had the juice to assist fast bowlers especially under overcast conditions.
Pakistani new ball bowlers pitched the ball in the right areas as Abdul Razzaq got rid of the danger man Brenden Taylor in the first over of the match and then Umar Gul started dictating terms as he sent back Chakabva and Sibanda for a duck and five runs respectively as Zimbabwe looked down the battle quite early in the match.
Umar Gul wins Man of the Match award. Courtesy: AP PHOTO
Craig Ervine and Tatenda Taibu then joined hands and looked good for some time before Wahab Riaz was introduced into the attack by skipper Shahid Khan Afridi and the left-arm bowler never disappointed as he captured the prized scalp of Taibu.
However, Ervine kept hold of one end and completed his fifty before Mohammad Hafeez clean-bowled him for 52 runs.
Mohammad Hafeez. Courtesy: AP PHOTO
With the rains coming down heavily, umpires and players went back into the pavilion and later came back with match shortened to 43 overs. A second rain break further cut the number of overs to 38 as Zimbabwe batsmen took long handle to score maximum runs.
In the end, the African side managed to score 151 runs from their 39.4 overs, giving Pakistan a target of 162 runs from 38 overs.
Umar Gul once again led the Pakistani bowling attack with style as the right-arm fast bowler grabbed three wickets for 36 runs.
Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal. Courtesy: AP PHOTO
A lot was expected from the openers but Ahmad Shehzad once again failed to cash in on the given opportunity and tried to play too many shots thus losing his wicket to Raymond Price after scoring only eight runs, yet another failure for the young batsman.
On the other hand, Mohammad Hafeez showed some application and commitment to spend some time at the crease which rewarded him with some crucial runs under his belt ahead of the bigger games of the tournament. Hafeez along with Asad Shafiq, who replaced injured Umar Akmal, built the match-winning partnership of 82 runs which is the highest second wicket partnership for Pakistan in the current edition of the ICC World Cup.
Hafeez failed to complete his well-deserved fifty and had to return to the pavilion after Utseya got him out at 49 runs, but till then Pakistan were on course to the required victory.
Younus Khan (13 from 28) then joined forces with Asad Shafiq, who after a slow start capitalized in the later stage and scored an impressive fifty on his world cup debut.
Asad Shafiq remained not out at 78 from 97 balls with the help of seven boundaries.
Umar Gul was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant spell of fast bowling getting rid of three Zimbabwean batsmen.
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