Afridi was at the centre of the triumph, picking up four key wickets as Pakistan overcame a late implosion in the field to sneak out with an 11-run win. The haul included his 300th ODI wicket, the third Pakistani to do so and only the second player after Sanath Jayasuriya to complete 300 wickets and 4000 runs in the format. With nine wickets in two games, he is for now the leading wicket-taker in the tournament.
But Pakistan's inability to finish off games over the last year has worried coach Waqar Younis and tonight's performance, deservedly triumphant ultimately, would not have eased those concerns. Sri Lanka lost their top order with less than 100 on the board, so by the 22nd over of the chase, the game seemed done.
Pakistan relaxed and proceeded to spill three catches, fluff two stumpings and miss a host of run-out attempts over the next 20 overs, allowing Chamara Silva, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews to fight back. Amid the bedlam, they swiftly wasted two referrals and totted up 29 extras and though Afridi felt that "80%" of the task was done by then, he warned that improvement was needed.
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