COLOMBO: Four years ago, Pakistan was ousted from Cricket World Cup by Ireland and Captain Shahid Afridi said “ghost of that humiliating loss came back to my mind during Group A match against Canada here.”
Pakistan suffered a mighty scare at hands of Canada after being bundled out for a paltry 184 batting first but they hit back with ball to snatch a 46 run victory.
Afridi said it was “a good wake up call for the 1992 Champions. We played Ireland in 2007 and lost and that was in my mind. In second innings, I told my team that we have to win this game and work hard.”
“I must say that’s not a good batting performance. It was poor shot selection. If we are going to win against good teams, we need to tighten our game with our batting and it was a good wake up call for us,” added Afridi.
Thursday’s win helped Pakistan to go on top of Group A ahead of Sri Lanka & Australia. Afridi was named Man of the Match for his five for 23. He is highest wicket taker in the tournament so far with 14 wickets.
“I try hard to perform for the team. Sometimes I got some turn today and there was some drift as well and when that happens you have a chance to get lbw decisions. I was just trying to keep it simple,” he said.
Canadian captain Ashish Bagai was all praise for Afridi and said Pakistan all-rounder made all the difference between the two teams in the end.
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