They say the World Cup is boring. They say that Pakistan have no chance of winning the title. They will be sitting down to breakfast and helping themselves to fat helpings of their own words. Both of those opinions will have to be hastily revised after Sri Lanka, second-favourites for the title by virtue of their home advantage, lost an enthralling match in Colombo. The 11-run margin of victory would have been larger still had Pakistan not shown some of those familiar failings that must make them so frustrating to support. But then, if they played perfect cricket, they would not be nearly so entertaining to watch.
At the heart of the game was a duel between two of the most enthralling cricketers of modern times, Muttiah Muralitharan on the one hand and Shahid Afridi on the other. But if they were centre stage they had a splendid supporting cast.
There were majestic innings from Misbah-ul-Haq and Younus Khan. And then there was Shoaib Akhtar, sweating with the effort of shrugging off the years so he could pound in as he once did in his pomp. He clean bowled Mahela Jayawardene with an unplayable off-cutter. And Kamran Akmal, veering between the brilliant and the utterly absurd, completed two waspish stumpings but bungled a pair of far easier chances.
For the Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakkara gritted his teeth and did his damndest to play a captain's innings. And Nuwan Kulasekara followed up an inspired spell of death bowling with a slogger's knock of 24 from 14 balls that kept his side in the match right up until the final over. They needed 18 from it, but could only manage seven.
Murali delivered a masterclass in off-spin after Sri Lanka lost the toss and were asked to bowl. His 10 immaculate overs cost 33 runs, a sum that only contained a single scoring shot that went for more than a single. Never mind any fours or sixes, Murali only gave up one solitary two. His two overs in the batting powerplay cost only five runs and included the wicket of Umar Akmal, diddled into slapping a catch to midwicket. By the end of his spell cricket fans everywhere were wishing that someone could talk him out of his decision to retire once the World Cup is over.
And yet he finished on the losing side. As well as he bowled he could not dislodge either Misbah or Younus. They came together with the score on 105 for three, Pakistan having squandered a rollocking start by contriving a pair of the most idiotic dismissals imaginable. Mohammad Hafeez ran himself out after he held himself in position to admire his own sweep to short fine leg. By the time he looked around he found his partner, Kamran Akmal, was sharing his crease. Not long afterwards, Akmal decided to jump down the pitch and heave-ho at a delivery from Rangana Herath. He did not turn around to watch Sangakkara sweep off the bails, but kept walking back to the pavilion.
After all that naivety, the contrast with Misbah and Younus could not have been starker. They hit only four fours between them in their stand of 108, and yet still scored at more than five runs an over, tick-tocking along by working singles into the gaps on the leg side. The Sri Lankans missed the death bowling of Lasith Malinga, out injured, and 32 runs came from the last three overs.
That final flourish put Pakistan over the top, just. Though when the Sri Lankans were 76 without loss in the 15th over it did not look as though that would be the case. And then on came Afridi. If Muralitharan bowls with the cunning of Cardinal Richelieu, Afridi does so with the swagger of D'Artaganan. He took four wickets, meaning he now has nine for just 49 runs in two matches in the competition so far.
He had Tillakaratne Dilshan cut onto his stumps, and then ripped a fast leg-break past Thilan Samaraweera's outside edge. When he had Sangakkara caught the game looked up, though of course his team's erratic fielding meant they found numerous ways to extend the game towards a thrilling climax.
Cricket fans would not have it any other way.
