Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul wreaked havoc with the ball as Pakistan
kicked off their Twenty20 World Cup campaign with a thumping 51-run win against
lowly Scotland in a Group D match at Kingsmead here today.
Setting the minnows a stiff winning target of 172 runs, Pakistan never had any
real problem as Afridi (4-19) and Gul (4-25) ran through the Scotland batting
order to bundle them out for 120 with one ball to spare.
For Scotland, Fraser Watts provided the only resistance with
a 36-ball knock of 46 before Mohammad Hafiz removed him.
Afridi, currently under the scanner back home for his role
in the much-publicised Shoaib Akhtar-Mohammad Asif brawl, was
adjudged the Man of the Match.
Scots did not have a good start as Gul first came up with a
two-wicket burst to reduce Scotland to 38 for two and then Afridi removed Gavin
Hamilton (2) and Neil McCallum (0) in the same over to compound the crisis.
Once Fraser was out, Scotland's hopes of a miracle went up
in the smoke and it was a long procession of dejected batsmen back to the pavilion.
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