Colombo, Feb 26: Hosts Sri Lanka suffered an 11-run defeat against Pakistan in a day/night Group A encounter here in Colombo. Chasing a target of 278 to win, Sri Lanka failed to capitalise on the solid start provided by their openers as they were restricted to a score of 266/9 in their chase by Pakistan.

Earlier, Younis Khan (72) and Misbah-ul-Haq (83*) were the chief architects of Pakistan’s innings score of 277/7 in 50 overs. The two middle-order batsmen shared a partnership of 108 runs for the fourth wicket, which was also the best partnership of the game. Mohammad Hafeez (32) and Kamran Akmal (39) also chipped in with their individual scores towards Pakistan’s total.

Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan got Sri Lanka off to a flier, bringing up the first 72 runs in just 14 overs. But when Mohammed Hafeez dismissed Tharanga (33) with the score at 76, Sri Lanka’s struggles began. Shahid Afridi removed four of the next five wickets and with Shoaib Akhtar contributing with the wickets of Mahela Jayawardene (2) and Thisara Perera (8), the hosts were always behind the asking rate. Chamara Silva (57 off 78) played a fighting innings, but couldn’t get Sri Lanka past the victory line.

With two wins under their belt and a better net run-rate than Australia, Pakistan now move to the top of Group A.

Brief scores:Pakistan 277/7 in 50 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq-83*, Younis Khan 72, Rangana Herath 2/46) beat Sri Lanka 266/9 in 50 overs (Chamara Silva 57, Kumar Sangakkara 49, Shahid Afridi 4/34) by 11 runs

Man-of-the-Match:Shahid Afridi for his all-round effort of 16 runs (12 balls) and bowling figures of four for 34