May 20, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 03, 1428

ABU DHABI, May 19: Shahid Afridi pulled out a madcap, adrenaline-fuelled special for an adoring crowd as Pakistan presented new captain Shoaib Malik with an impressive win in the first One-day International against Sri Lanka at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Friday night (also partially reported in Saturday’s edition).

The game had tensed up until Afridi's 34-ball 73, including a 32-run over, allowed Pakistan to romp home to their target of 236 with five wickets and eight overs to spare.

Most other days, Kamran Akmal's would have been a leading role, but here he became only a dutiful sidekick. Still, his 51 was his most telling recent contribution and the pair put on 102 in under 11 overs after coming together with Pakistan shaking at 137 for five.

At that point they had just lost their captain, remarkably the third, comically poor run-out from the top order and the rate required was rising. A brisk start from Imran Nazir had been hauled back by that typically Sri Lankan recipe of tight spin and great fielding.

Kamran had already punched and clipped a string of lovely drives when Afridi arrived. Immediately he took his cue, holding back till his eighth ball, when he jumped at Sanath Jayasuriya and miscued high to extra cover.

Thereafter, there was no stopping him. Jayasuriya was driven and swept and Malinga Bandara, who had bowled well until then, was similarly dismissed. Even then, a maiden from Lasith Malinga tipped the situation back to a delicate balance, but it was the next over from Bandara, the 39th of the innings, that sealed it.

Between the straight boundary and point, Afridi scythed, drove, slapped and miscued two fours and four successive sixes, in the process bringing up his fifty off 22 balls. Remarkably, he has made five quicker ones himself. It constituted the second-most expensive over in ODI history, Pathans around the ground went wild, the game all but over. A couple more Afridi tonks and three overs later, it was over.

Until then, little had separated the teams. Pakistan's nerve-ridden batting had mirrored that of Sri Lanka's. After Malik had lost his first toss, he would have looked back at the total he conceded with equal parts pleasure and regret: his bowlers had done well early, but faced with an accomplished 54-ball 69 from Farvez Maharoof, they allowed Sri Lanka to post what appeared a total with a chance.

The second match is scheduled for Sunday with the last to be played on Tuesday.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

W.E. Tharanga run out 17

S.T. Jayasuriya lbw b Asif 1

C.K. Kapugedera b Umar 28

D.P.M.D. Jayawardene c Kamran b Umar 18

L.P.C. Silva run out 47

T.M. Dilshan c Umar b Razzaq 14

H.A.P.W. Jayawardene run out 20

M.F. Maharoof not out 69

C.M. Bandara b Umar Gul 6

S.L. Malinga b Mohammad Sami 3

M.K.D.I. Amerasinghe not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, W-3, NB-4) 11

Total (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 235

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-34, 3-61, 4-72, 5-103, 6-141, 7-177, 8-203, 9-215.

BOWLING: Mohammad Asif 10-1-26-1 (1w); Mohammad Sami 10-0-49-1 (1w); Umar Gul 10-0-61-3 (1nb, 1w); Abdul Razzaq 10-0-52-1 (3nb); Shahid Afridi 10-0-43-0.

PAKISTAN:

Salman Butt run out 34

Imran Nazir run out 38

Yasir Hameed lbw b Bandara 10

Mohammad Yousuf b Maharoof 12

Shoaib Malik run out 11

Kamran Akmal not out 51

Shahid Afridi not out 73

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-4, NB-5) 10

TOTAL (for five wkts, 42 overs) 239

FALL OF WKTS: 1-53, 2-84, 3-88, 4-105, 5-137.

DID NOT BAT: Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul.

BOWLING: Maharoof 8-1-47-1 (4nb); Malinga 9-1-53-0 (1nb, 2w); Amerasinghe 7-2-31-0 (2w); Dilshan 3-0-9-0; Bandara 10-1-69-1; Jayasuriya 5-0-29-0

RESULT: Pakistan won by five wickets.

UMPIRES: M.R. Benson (England) and S.L. Shastri (India).

TV UMPIRE: R.B. Tiffin (Zimbabwe).

MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shahid Afridi.

SECOND MATCH: Sunday.

THIRD MATCH: Tuesday.—Cricinfo