 Pakistan thrash Scotland in Durban
12th Sep 2007 23:00 IST
Agencies
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 in Durban 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 Hafeez 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 38/2 and then Afridi removed Gavin Hamilton (2) and Neil McCallum (0) in the same over to compound the crisis.
Once Watts 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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