Good starts, by the looks of things is what Pakistan is dearly missing, an absence of which throughout the tournament seems to worry the Pakistan camp as well.

‘We have the potential but our players seem to miss out on good starts, both while bowling and batting,’ Younus Khan, Pakistan’s captain, said after the 19-run loss.

‘In this match, for example, we had a poor first over by Sohail Tanvir who gave away 18 runs including a few extras. Then again with the bat we lost Salman Butt in the very first over. So obviously that is something we need to work on.’
 
The horrendous first over by Tanvir — labelled a match-winner by Younus — provided an ideal platform for Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillekaratne Dilshan to latch onto. They did so for the first nine overs and prior to Shahid Afridi’s timely intrusion, Sri Lanka looked oncourse for a healthy total.

‘I was quite happy to have restricted them for 150. At one point it looked as if they would easily reach 200. Our spinners once again put in a good performance and we looked comfortable chasing that target if not for the regular wickets we kept losing.’
 
Afridi, shining once again with the ball, took two for 23 while briefly overtaking Umer Gul as international Twenty20’s leading wicket-taker. As a bowler, he has been Pakistan’s saviour and go-to guy of late.

With the bat, however, he poses a huge worry. A first-ball slog today failed to help Pakistan’s cause but Younus refused to show much concern.

‘We have all seen Afridi in the past. All he needs is one innings to get back into form but unfortunately for us it didn’t come today.

However, he still is a very important member of the side and his contribution with the ball and in the field has been tremendous.’
 
‘Though our fielding wasn’t that bad today, we gave away too many runs where we should not have [extras]. In a match like this, where the total is in front of you, we needed to form partnerships, perhaps someone who could’ve batted for 20 overs. We failed to do that and hence lost,’ said Younus.

In the end, it was Sri Lanka’s commitment to the task at hand, and pin-point accuracy with the ball by Lasith Malinga, that has left Pakistan with lot of thinking before Saturday’s late match against New Zealand at The Oval.

Some eyes may be on Salman Butt’s performance at the top of the order and some, perhaps, will be on a late arrival into the team, Abdul Razzaq.