Scorecard:

Pakistan finish at 277. This is a good 20 short of what they would have wanted, and more importanty at least 40 runs less than what they should have ideally reached, considering the kind of platform Younis and Misbah laid.

Afridi delayed taking the batting powerplay till the 43rd over and Pakistan paid the price for leaving it too late. Had he taken it in the, say, 35th over, who knows what kind of a launchpad Younis-Misbah would have laid and how much freedom Akmal-Af-Raz would have had to go after the Sri Lankan bowlers outside of Murali-Herath.

The failure of the three hitters also meant that Misbah, who carried his bat through for a sedate 83, could not unleash his big shots at the other end.

That last mentioned pair were the best bowlers on a pitch that had nothing for Sri Lanka's trundling medium pacers.

Murali bowled like the magician that he is, restricting the top order in his first spell and conceding only 5 off his two powerplay overs in his last spell.

What Murali's genius did was give Herath all the freedom to attack at the other end, flighting the ball with good drift and getting it to bite the wicket and turn more than it would have had he had to bowl flatter.

Herath teased the Pakistan batsmen and they gave him two wickets, trying to respond.

Had it been a football match, Murali's sheet would have read 2 goals and 2 assists.

Overall, Pakistan laboured a lot to get themselves to a position of strength by the 34th over, only to throw it all away in the last 16, off which they got only 107.

I dont think 277 is enough against this Sri Lankan line up on this pitch on paper, but this Pakistan side has pulled off stranger things.

Stand by for the Sri Lankan innings.

Image: Misbah-ul-Haq hits a shot. (Reuters)