Mirpur, Mar 23: Captain Shahid Afridi scalped four wickets and Mohammad Hafeez excelled with an all-round display as Pakistan spanked a spineless West Indies by 10 wickets to storm in the semifinal of the cricket World Cup here today.
Pakistan bundled out the Caribbeans for a paltry 112 in just 43.3 overs and then overhauled the target with 29.1 overs to spare in a hugely-lopsided quarterfinal clash at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.
Chasing just 113 to win, Mohammad Hafeez (61) and Kamran Akmal (47) toyed with the West Indies attack and stitched a 125-ball 113-run opening partnership to wrap up the match very easily and move into the semi-finals after a gap of 12 years.
The 1992 Champions Pakistan will now face the winner of the second quarterfinal between India and Australia at Ahmedabad in the semifinals.
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Everything went right for Pakistan today, which also happens to be their national day, as Afridi's men didn't put a foot wrong after West Indies skipper Darren Sammy won the toss and sent them to field.
Hafeez's two early wickets pushed West Indies on the backfoot right at the start of their innings and then Afridi picked four for 30 to dismiss two-time champions West Indies for their third lowest World Cup total.
Hafeez also shone with the bat and provided a blistering start to Pakistan's runchase, clubbing a couple of fours off Kemar Roach in the very first over.
Hafeez picked up another boundary in the second over off Ravi Rampaul after his opening partner Kamran Akmal sent him across the rope in the second delivery.
Kamran blasted Roach for another four in the next over when his uppish cut kissed Kieron Pollard's fingers at point before racing to the boundary. The wicketkeeper-batsman picked up another four off the pacer in his next over.
Spinner Devendra Bishoo and skipper Darren Sammy tried to put the break and bowled two maiden overs but Hafeez blasted a couple of fours off the former in his second over to take Pakistan across the 50-mark in eight overs.
Hafeez didn't relent a bit and kept punishing the bowlers with utter disdain. He clipped one off the pad and then lifted one over midwicket, before sending Bishoo across the point boundary to race towards his half-century.
In the 17th over, Hafeez picked up another four off Rampaul to notch up the eighth half-century of his career off just 55 balls and then took Pakistan across the 100-mark in the 20th over.
Kamran too matched his partner shot by shot and remained unbeaten on 47 with the help of seven fours.
Earlier, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy's decision to bat first after winning the toss backfired badly as they were reduced to 16 for three by the sixth over, with the dangerous Chris Gayle back in the pavilion.
Spearhead Gul gave Pakistan a dream start when he had Gayle caught at mid-off by none other than the skipper himself.
If losing Gayle so early was not bad enough, West Indies were dealt another body blow as the left-hander's opening partner, Devon Smith, was trapped in front by Hafeez.
Hafeez was at the thick of things again when he had Darren Bravo caught plumb in front.
West Indies looked completely out of sorts against the guile and variation of the opposition bowlers, especially Hafeez, who picked up two wickets while conceding just 12 runs in his first spell of eight overs, which also had three maidens.
Afridi seemed pro-active in his approach and was looking for wickets at all costs, and at all times.
The skipper was in no mood to let go of the early advantage and therefore replaced first-change bowler Wahab Riaz after the left-arm seamer went wicket-less in his first three overs.
Afridi's move paid dividends as he broke the 42-run partnership between Ramnaresh Sarwan (24) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (44 not out), the biggest of the innings.
Sarwan and Chanderpaul tried to steady the ship with a dodgy stand, but the duo's effort proved to be insufficient in the prevailing circumstances.
Sarwan, while trying to break the shackles after consuming 68 deliveries, found Umar Akmal at Gully, giving Afridi his first wicket of the match, and 18th of the tournament.
Sarwan always looked in trouble against the Pakistani skipper and the leg-spinner could have had the West Indian had Gul not dropped an easy chance at widish long-off in his second over.
Bowling his fast, attacking leg-spinners to deadly effect, Afridi then had Kieron Pollard caught behind and followed that up with the wicket of Devon Thomas in the next ball.
Thomas' scalp was Afridi's 19th of the tournament, a Pakistani record. Wasim Akram (with 18 wickets in the 1992 edition in Australia and New Zealand) held the previous record.
Sammy survived the hat-trick ball but the damage was done by that time.
Ajmal joined the party by dismissing Sammy and Devendra Bishoo to make it 71 for six.
Chanderpaul added 40 valuable runs with number ten Kemar Roach to take his team past the 100-run mark before Abdul Razzaq cut short the tail-ender's valiant innings.
Chanderpaul, for all his patience and doggedness at the crease, could not save his team from slipping further. The experienced left-hander remained unbeaten on 44 but gobbled up 106 deliveries to score his runs.
Chanderpaul's pain-staking knock typified West Indies' display with the bat. They could manage just 18 runs for the loss of three wickets in the mandatory powerplay, and were 36, though without further damage, at the end of the 15th over. PTI
