Well, the Islanders did it - and did it superbly, beating Pakistan by 16 runs and stormed into the ICC T20I World Cup final.
Winning the toss, the Sri Lankans decided to bat first. But were restricted by the Pakistani bowlers to give any meaningful target till the last two overs, when they were in the 120s range. But thereafter, the hit hard and played aggressively to take the score to 139, giving a target of 140 to Pakistan. Jayawardne was the most successful batsman who scored 42 till he was bowled by Afridi.
Coming to bat, Pakistan's batsmen did not look like playing for an entry into the final - and even the Islanders bowlers did not let them do so either. Except for captain Hafeez who added 42, followed by 29 by Umar Akmal and 20 by Imran, none of the batsmen could stand in front of aggressive Sri Lankan bowlers.
Herath was the most deadliest for taking three wickets - three important wickets of Hafeez, Shaoib Malik and ............. boom boom Afridi. When everyone expected Afridi to play well and responsible at a time when Pakistan badly needed runs, Afridi's steam was taken out by Herath right in his first ball to Afridi and bowled him.
So it is congatulations Sri Lanka for storming into the final and best of luck.
As for Pakistan, there has to be some serious thinking about retaining Afridi in the team and ponder over why Tanvir was preferred over Razaq.
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