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Mirpur: Pakistan reached the World Cup semifinal for the sixth time with a crushing 10-wicket victory against the West Indies at Shere Bangla National stadium in Mirpur on Wednesday.
Openers Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal remained unbeaten on 61 and 47 respectively as Pakistan chased down the 113-run target in 20.5 overs in the first quarterfinal.
Pakistan will meet the winner of the India-Australia quarterfinal clash.
Earlier, skipper Shahid Afridi led from the front with four wickets as Pakistan bundled out West Indies for a paltry 112 in 43.3 overs.
Afridi finished with impressive figures of 4/30 after Mohammad Hafeez's two early wickets pushed West Indies on the backfoot at the start of the innings before folding up for their third lowest World Cup total.
Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal, too, figured amongst the wickets.
West Indies skipper Darren Sammy's decision to bat first after winning the toss backfired badly as the two-time former champions were reduced to 16/3 by the sixth over, with the dangerous Chris Gayle back in the pavilion.
Spearhead Gul gave Pakistan a dream start when he had Gayle caught at mid-off by none other than the skipper himself.
If losing Gayle so early was not bad enough, West Indies were dealt another body blow as the left-hander's opening partner, Devon Smith, was trapped in front by Hafeez.
Hafeez was at the thick of things again when he had Darren Bravo caught plumb in front.
West Indies looked completely out of sorts against the guile and variation of the opposition bowlers, especially Hafeez, who picked up two wickets while conceding just 12 runs in his first spell of eight overs, which also had three maidens.
Afridi seemed pro-active in his approach and was looking for wickets at all costs, and at all times.
The skipper was in no mood to let go of the early advantage and therefore replaced first-change bowler Wahab Riaz after the left-arm seamer went wicket-less in his first three overs.
Afridi's move paid dividends as he broke the 42-run partnership between Ramnaresh Sarwan (24) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (44 not out), the biggest of the innings.
Sarwan and Chanderpaul tried to steady the ship with a dodgy stand, but the duo's effort proved to be insufficient in the prevailing circumstances.
Sarwan, while trying to break the shackles after consuming 68 deliveries, found Umar Akmal at Gully, giving Afridi his first wicket of the match, and 18th of the tournament.
Sarwan always looked in trouble against the Pakistani skipper and the leg-spinner could have had the West Indian had Gul not dropped an easy chance at widish long-off in his second over.
Bowling his fast, attacking leg-spinners to deadly effect, Afridi then had Kieron Pollard caught behind and followed that up with the wicket of Devon Thomas in the next ball.
Thomas' scalp was Afridi's 19th of the tournament, a Pakistani record. Wasim Akram (with 18 wickets in the 1992 edition in Australia and New Zealand) held the previous record.
Sammy survived the hat-trick ball but the damage was done by that time.
Ajmal joined the party by dismissing Sammy and Devendra Bishoo to make it 71/6.
Chanderpaul added 40 valuable runs with number ten Kemar Roach to take his team past the 100-run mark before Abdul Razzaq cut short the tail-ender's valiant innings.
Chanderpaul, for all his patience and doggedness at the crease, could not save his team from slipping further. The experienced left-hander remained unbeaten on 44 but gobbled up 106 deliveries to score his runs.
Chanderpaul's pain-staking knock typified West Indies' display with the bat. They could manage just 18 runs for the loss of three wickets in the mandatory powerplay, and were 36, though without further damage, at the end of the 15th over.
Brief scores
West Indies 112 (Chanderpaul 44*, Shahid Afridi 4-30)
Pakistan 113 for 0 (Mohammad Hafeez 61*, Kamran Akmal 47*)
Results Pakistan won by 10 wickets
MOM Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)
