Sri Lanka Wary Of Afridi Threat

sri Lanka have pinpointed the all-round talents of Shahid Afridi as the main threat to their hopes of securing World Twenty20 glory at Lord's on Sunday.

The 29-year-old all-rounder has already underlined his value to Pakistan during this tournament, claiming the man-of-the-match award for a brilliant display to help shock favourites South Africa and secure a seven-run semi-final triumph.

Afridi hammered 51 off 34 balls and then claimed two for 16 in his four overs, removing South African dangermen Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers, to serve notice of his potential danger to Sri Lanka's hopes of lifting the trophy.

His performance has made Sri Lanka wary enough to concentrate their planning for the final around Afridi's talents, although they are more than aware of the threat posed by other members of Pakistan's line-up.

"We've faced some of the players we're going to play against and Afridi is a player who can take the game away from you in a few overs," conceded Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara.

"We can't get caught up in one player, although we'll probably discuss a few plans for him about how we can try and get him out early or if he stays for a while how to minimise the damage.

"We will be thinking about Afridi, but we will also be thinking about all the other Pakistan players and most of all we need to focus on what we will be doing on Sunday and making sure we have a lot of self-belief walking out."

Sri Lanka successfully limited Afridi's influence during their Super Eights encounter at Lord's earlier in the tournament when he dismissed both their openers but fell for a duck to Muttiah Muralitharan as Pakistan lost by 15 runs.

Since then, though, Pakistan have regrouped and completed victories over New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa to reach their second successive World Twenty20 final with both seamer Umar Gul and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal enjoying successful tournaments with 12 victims apiece.

They are in a group of four players leading the list of top wicket-takers alongside Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis and strike bowler Lasith Malinga to set up an intriguing separate battle during Sunday's final.

"We have played them many times before, but in T20 every single game is taken in isolation," said Sangakkara. "The game can change very quickly and different players come into their own so we have to prepare ourselves to meet any challenge that comes our way and maybe walk away with the trophy."

Should they do so it will represent a remarkable triumph just three months after their team bus was attacked by terrorists in Lahore as they made their way to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of the second Test against Pakistan.

Several players suffered minor injuries, including Sangakkara, while the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels was also recently concluded to cause more unrest in Sri Lanka, which would make any final success all the more emotional.

"Hopefully there will not be much emotion," said Sangakkara. "I think we have to control that part if we want to be mentally strong enough to do what we need to do tomorrow.

"I think the guys have moved on very well from where we were just after Lahore. We are going to make sure that whatever emotions come our way we're going to control them and use them as a positive to try and win a game."

Sri Lanka are again expected to name an unchanged side, which will again exclude top-rated one-day bowler Nuwan Kulasekara, as they chase their first global trophy since winning the 1996 World Cup with Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan in their line-up.

"I've been in a final and a semi-final before. Now there is a chance to win a final," added Sangakkara. "We have guys in the team who have already tasted that victory and they have always told us that there's no feeling like that."

Teams:

Pakistan (from): Younus Khan (captain), Shahzaib Hasan, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Misbah-ul-Haq, Fawad Alam, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Ahmed Shahzad, Iftikhar Anjum, Salman Butt, Sohail Tanvir.

Sri Lanka (from): KC Sangakkara (captain, wkt), TM Dilshan, ST Jayasuriya, DPMD Jayawardene, LPC Silva, J Mubarak, AD Mathews, BAW Mendis, M Muralitharan, SL Malinga, I Udana, KMDN Kulasekara, MF Maharoof.