Pakistan clinch quarter-final place with Zimbabwe win

Tuesday, 15 March 2011 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shihar Aneez

KANDY, Sri Lanka, March 14 (Reuters) - Pakistan sealed their place in the World Cup quarter-finals after sinking Zimbabwe by seven wickets in a rain-shortened match on Monday.

Chasing a Duckworth/Lewis target of 162 off 38 overs, a half-century from Asad Shafiq (78 not out) and a solid knock by Mohammad Hafeez (49) steered Pakistan to an easy win with 23 balls to spare (164-3).

The result meant the 1992 champions joined Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka from Group A in the knock out stages of the competition.

With the exception of Craig Ervine (52) and captain Elton Chigumbura (32 not out), the Zimbabwean batsmen struggled to come to terms with the stop-start nature of the contest due to three rain delays. They finished on 151-7 after 39.4 overs but the victory target was adjusted according to the projected score the Africans would have reached had they been able to bat out their full quota of overs.