Sri Lanka survived Shahid Afridi's finest innings and Shoaib Akhtar on comeback through some desperate fielding and lovely bowling from Lasith Malinga. The batsmen before Afridi seemed either incompetent of or uninterested in the chase, the batsmen with him seemed intent on running themselves out, his cramp-induced groans could be heard through the stump microphone, he hobbled the last 17 of his runs, and he had taken Pakistan from 32 for 4 to within 39 of the target when Kumar Sangakkara produced a catch for the ages. Malinga, coming back into ODI cricket, then produced a lethal three-over spell inside the batting Powerplay to wipe the tail off much in the fashion Pakistanis are used to doing with others.
Afridi then reminded the crowd Pakistan were indeed trying to win the match. Just like that, he smacked the first two balls pitched up to him for sixes. Farveez Maharoof was at the receiving end, and learned his lesson fast: he hardly pitched anything up in the rest of his spell, and bowled some impressive cutters, but didn't court success.
You could sense Sri Lanka were now waiting for the inevitable mistake from Afridi. You could sense Afridi was not going to make that inevitable mistake. The deep fielders waited for catches, all they got was shots to their right or their left that got Pakistan couples. Umar Akmal joined in the process, and the pair began to use the big ground to their advantage. On nine occasions they managed to take couples during their 73-run fifth-wicket stand. In a further exhibition of calculated hitting, Afridi lofted Murali for four sixes in four overs, all over his head, all risk-free.
With cause for worry, Sangakkara brought Malinga back for the 25th over, and Umar set off for a suicidal single having defended straight to short cover. And Tillakaratne Dilshan is not the man to steal sharp singles off. Umar's brother, Kamran Akmal, way better with the batting gloves than the keeping ones, started another important partnership.
Afridi now took his innings to a level higher, finding gaps through the field for fours. Murali was welcomed back with a swept boundary in the 32nd over, taking Afridi to 74, and Pakistan to 154. Off the second ball, Kamran got run out. Still no impact on Afridi. He was not fazed even by a short ball from Malinga that he couldn't spot. A fantastic slower ball followed, which he was deceived by but still managed to glance it for four.
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