Colombo, Mar 3 : Four years ago, Pakistan were ousted from the World Cup by Ireland and skipper Shahid Afridi today said the ghost of that humiliating loss came back to his mind during their Group A match against Canada here today.
Pakistan suffered a mighty scare at the hands of Canada after being bundled out for a paltry 184 batting first but they hit back with the ball to snatch a 46-run victory and Afridi said it was a good wake call for the 1992 Champions.
"We played Ireland in 2007 and lost and that was in my mind. In the second innings I told my team that we have to win this game and work hard," he told reporters after the match.
"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," Afridi added.
Today's win helped Pakistan to go on top of Group 'A'ahead of Sri Lanka and Australia with Afridi being named Man of the Match for his five for 23. He's the highest wicket taker in the tournament so far with 14 scalps.
"I try hard to perform for the team. Sometimes I got some turn today and there was some drift as well and when thatm happens you have a chance to get leg before wickets. I was just trying to keep it simple," Afridi said.Canadian captain Ashish Bagai paid tribute to Afridi and said the Pakistan allrounder made all the difference between the two teams in the end.
"Our game plan was to be positive. There are a couple of youngsters in our side. We had a partnership going, but Shahid came and he made the difference between the two teams," said Bagai.Chasing 185 to win, Canada folded for 138 in 42.5 overs after going well at 104-3 at one point. This is Canada's third loss in as many matches.
They were beaten by Sri Lanka by a huge 210 runs while Zimbabwe defeated them by 175 runs and Bagai said batting was a concern."Our batting worries continue. We were trying to get back on track, but it proved to be too difficult at the end. We are disappointed. We were just not god enough today," he said. PTI
