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Pakistan warmed up for the Twenty20 world championships with a five-wicket win over World Cup finalists Sri Lanka in a practice match here at SuperSport Park on Sunday.

Mohammad Hafeez led the way with an all-round effort, claiming 2-18 in his four overs to restrict Sri Lanka to 162-7 before making 45 as Pakistan cruised home with seven balls to spare.

Sri Lanka, sent in to bat, failed to build on a solid start of 45 in five overs by openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga and lost wickets at regular intervals.

Jehan Mubarak was the top scorer with 42 off 33 balls before being run out by Umar Gul in the final over.

Pakistan made a flying start in reply as Hafeez and Salman Butt (51) hammered 94 for the first wicket by the 10th over.

The loss of four quick wickets reduced Pakistan to 149-5 in the 18th over but captain Shoaib Malik guided his team to victory with an unbeaten 34.

Pakistan, who sent pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar home last week after a bust-up with Mohammad Asif, had thrashed Zimbabwe by 54 runs on Saturday.

Pakistan are drawn with arch-rivals India and Scotland in Group D of the preliminary league with the top two advancing to the Super Eights round.

The World Cup opens on Tuesday with hosts South Africa battling the West Indies at the Wanderers here in Johannesburg.

Scoreboard

Pakistan won toss

Sri Lanka

W U Tharanga c Afridi b Asif 30

S T Jayasuriya lbw b Hafeez 27

M D K Perera c Younis b Iftikhar 8

†K C Sangakkara c Misbah b Yasir 18

L P C Silva st Kamran b Hafeez 3

J Mubarak run out (Umar) 42

T M Dilshan run out (Kamran) 23

M F Maharoof not out 1

Extras (lb4, w5, nb1) 10

Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 162

Did not bat: *D P M D Jayawardene, W P U J C Vaas, G Wijekoon, S L Malinga, K H R K Fernando, C R D Fernando

Fall: 1-45, 2-63, 3-77, 4-80, 5-116, 6-157, 7-162

Bowling: Mohammad Asif 4-0-33-1 (2w); Umar Gul 4-0-28-0 (1w); Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-18-2; Rao Iftikhar 3-0-29-1 (1nb, 1w); Yasir Arafat 3-0-27-1 (1w); Shahid Afridi 2-0-23-0

Pakistan

Salman Butt b Perera 51

Mohammad Hafeez c S’kkara b Wijekoon 45

Younis Khan lbw b Jayasuriya 15

*Shoaib Malik not out 34

Shahid Afridi c J’wardene b C R D Fernando 7

†Kamran Akmal c Malinga b C R D Fernando 2

Misbah-ul-Haq not out 2

Extras (b1, w6) 7

Total (5 wkts, 18.5 overs) 163

Did not bat: Rao Iftikhar, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Asif, Abdul Rehman, Fawad Alam, Imran Nazir

Fall: 1-94, 2-108, 3-120, 4-131, 5-149

Bowling: C R D Fernando 4-0-33-2 (5w); Maharoof 3-0-31-0; Malinga 3.5-0-38-0 (1w); K H R K Fernando 1-0-16-0; Perera 2-0-16-1; Wijekoon 3-0-20-1; Jayasuriya 2-0-8-1

Result: Pakistan won by 5 wickets

Players per side: 14 (11 batting, 11 fielding)

Umpires: A L Hill (New Zealand) and I L Howell

Khalid Latif, Yasir hit glorious tons

Source:Cricket News

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