May 22, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 05, 1428

ABU DHABI, May 21: Pakistan took an unassailable 2-0 lead over World Cup runners-up Sri Lanka in the three-match One-day International series when they won the second game by 98 runs here on Sunday (also partially reported in Monday’s edition).

Try as Sri Lanka might, keeping Shahid Afridi from tinkering with matches is proving beyond them currently. Having laughed, and walloped, in the face of a taut game two nights ago, Afridi conjured up another opportune intervention.

Afridi's bowling has kept his place in the team in recent months. The leg-spin is more pick n' mix than mystical, but its effectiveness is in little doubt.

Pakistan new captain Shoaib Malik knew it when he shunned the third powerplay and brought Afridi on as early as the 17th over. He had little choice, for Sri Lanka were picking their way delightfully into a daunting 314-run target. Their openers had set the tone, in a wonderfully free-spirited, attacking opening.

Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sami attacked in contrasting manner, Chamara Kapugedera and Upul Tharanga responded in kind. By the fifth over, Tharanga was putting away Asif for three fours.

Two wickets fell, whereupon began the real game. Outside Australia, there cannot currently be a more assured presence at the crease than Mahela Jayawardene. If Pakistan needed proof, he soon gave it to them. Having already clipped Sami square, he pulled Umar Gul so elegantly that the resulting gargantuan six seemed too uncouth a result for it. Tharanga kept up, driving Asif relentlessly; in the 15th over, a fifty union came up, as well as, staggeringly, the 100.

It was then that Afridi's itchy fingers clicked. Tharanga fell in his second over and almost every delivery asked a question different from the last. Some bounced, some spun more, some went the other way, some had more hustle. Malik, who had come on himself, ensured that runs dried up.

Both went through their 10 overs unchanged, Afridi adding Chamara Silva and Prasanna Jayawardene to his tally. The latter, dismissed one over after Malik trapped Tillekeratne Dilshan, effectively ended the match.

Jayawardene, the skipper, refused to forego his grace under fire but when he fell at the start of the third Powerplay, with him went the series.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Salman Butt c and b Bandara 74

Imran Nazir b Fernando 17

Yasir Hameed c and b Bandara 50

Mohammad Yousuf run out 37

Shoaib Malik b Bandara 27

Kamran Akmal c Dilshan b Maharoof 38

Shahid Afridi c Bandara b Maharoof 1

Abdul Razzaq b Fernando 16

Mohammad Sami b Maharoof 22

Umar Gul not out 0

Mohammad Asif not out 5

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-17, NB-4) 26

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 313

FALL OF WKTS: 1-45, 2-143, 3-167, 4-207, 5-233, 6-237, 7-277, 8-308, 9-308.

BOWLING: Perera 10-2-67-0 (1nb, 4w); Fernando 10-0-71-2 (1nb, 3w); Maharoof 10-0-65-3 (1nb); Bandara 10-0-56-3 (1nb); Dilshan 10-0-49-0 (1w).

SRI LANKA:

W.U. Tharanga c Imran b Afridi 48

C.K. Kapugedera b Sami 20

B.S.M. Warnapura lbw b Asif 5

D.P.M.D. Jayawardene b Asif 61

L.P.C. Silva c Razzaq b Afridi 21

T.M. Dilshan lbw b Shoaib Malik 10

H.A.P.W. Jayawardene lbw b Afridi 1

M.F. Maharoof c Salman b Sami 17

C.M. Bandara c Yasir b Umar Gul 11

C.R.D. Fernando not out 2

P.D.R.L. Perera b Umar Gul 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-7, W-5, NB-6) 19

TOTAL (all out, 39.5 overs) 215

FALL OF WKTS: 1-37, 2-49, 3-113, 4-153, 5-172, 6-176, 7-188, 8-205, 9-215.

BOWLING: Mohammad Asif 10-0-59-2 (1nb, 2w); Mohammad Sami 6-1-27-2 (1nb); Umar Gul 3.5-0-38-2 (2nb); Shoaib Malik 10-0-46-1 (2nb, 3w); Shahid Afridi 10-0-37-3.

RESULT: Pakistan won by 98 runs.

UMPIRES: R.B. Tiffin (Zimbabwe) and S.L. Shastri (India).

TV UMPIRE: M.R. Benson (England).

MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Salman Butt.

FIRST MATCH: Pakistan won by five wickets.

THIRD MATCH: Tuesday.—Agencies