Afridi pleased with aggressive approach

Shahid Afridi praised his team's response to his call for aggressive cricket as Pakistan capped their tour of Sri Lanka with a convincing victory in the one-off twenty20 international in Colombo.

Afridi, enjoying success in his first match as captain of Pakistan, laid the foundations for victory himself with a mature knock of 50 off just 37 deliveries.

Opener Imran Nazir made a fortuitous 40 at the start and Afridi and Umar Akmal built on that knock by putting on 66 for the fourth wicket, helping the Twenty20 world champions reach 172 for five batting first.

Sri Lanka began their chase well with Sanath Jayasuriya (23) and Mahela Udawatte (11) contributing 39 for the opening wicket, but the two were dismissed within the space of three deliveries and Sri Lanka lost impetus.

The home side then lost wickets regularly and were eventually bowled out for 120 in 18.1 overs to hand Afridi and his team a 52-run victory.

Afridi, who played the lead role in Pakistan's triumph over Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 final in England, said the victory helped restore some pride after losing the Test and one-day series.

"At the start I told them we are champions and we should play like champions," Afridi said.

"They responded very well and did a marvellous job. This victory is very important for us.

"We lost the Test series and the one-day series so there was nothing else to win but this game."

Afridi said he enjoyed captaining in the twenty20 format.

"Yes I like captaining in this format of the game," he said.

"It needs a positive effort and that's exactly what the guys brought to the field.

"In twenty20, the body language is very important.

"I told them at the start that I'm an aggressive captain and I wanted an aggressive approach from them as well.

"So the batting was good and we were sharp in the field as well and it was a good effort all around."

Fast bowler Naved-ul Hasan spearheaded Pakistan's bowling attack and he, along with off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, finished with three wickets apiece.

And Afridi believes Pakistan's bowling attack bodes well for the future.

"I think we have a great bowling attack as well," he said.

"The fast bowlers did really well at the start and set up nicely for Saeed Ajmal.

"I think they have a lot of potential."

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara felt his team's fielding let them down.

"We tried and trying is good, but at the end of the day you got to go out there and win it," Sangakkara said.

"We gave them 20 to 25 runs too many on this track.

"But going forward from here, we've really got to up the standard of our fielding.

"As for the batting, we got a good start and a couple of partnerships in the middle but then again we fell away at the end.

Sangakkara added: "We would have liked to chase something between 155 and 160, but the last time India played here they chased 170 plus and won," he said.

"We would have done the same had we applied ourselves a little more.

"But we shouldn't get disheartened from this. We have to learn from this and we've got to trust the players that we select to go out there and do the job."

Sri Lanka next host New Zealand with the first of two Tests beginning next week.

"New Zealand would be a new series a new kind of team," Sangakkara said.

"We've just got build on what we've done well and learn from our mistakes.

"We've got to get our mindset back to Test cricket, everyone should be keen to do well and up their standards and work hard."