Pakistan ride home on Afridi blitz

Pakistan ride home on Afridi blitz

A scintillating unbeaten 73 off just 34 balls by Shahid Afridi sealed a convincing win for Pakistan as they swept to a five-wicket victory with a whopping eight overs to spare in the first one-day international at Abu Dhabi. Afridi was easily the star, smashing 32 in an over off Malinga Bandara - the second-highest number of runs scored in an over - and ensuring that what looked like a tricky run-chase became a romp.

Shoaib Malik's first game as captain was a memorable one. Sri Lanka, runners up in the recent World Cup, tried hard but were hit by a cyclone called Afridi towards the latter stages. Malinga Bandara will remember this game for long, one where he was smashed for 32 runs in an over, and Sri Lanka had no answers to Afridi's pyrotechniques. So Pakistan take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.