Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi praised his bowlers for his side's momentous World Cup win over Australia, but admitted shamefacedly that he got out to an irresponsible shot in the run chase. "We made some good plans against these guys and I think the boys, they all stuck to the plans," said Afridi, thanking his bowlers for limiting Australia's batsmen.
"I think Gul and (Abdur) Rehman (1-34) started really well and all the bowlers did a great job and credit goes to the bowlers." Questioned about his own dismissal, when he holed out to Brett Lee in the deep off Jason Krejza for two, Afridi held his hands up.
"Don't ask. That was an irresponsible shot as a captain at a stage like that." Afridi was pleased to top the group, which means they will play the fourth-placed team in Group B but he said there were no weak sides in the tournament.
"I don't think any team is weaker in this competition but this victory was very, very important for us to keep in a good position in the group and I think you can imagine now how we will play the quarter-final with good positive body language." Disappointed skipper Ricky Ponting said: "We certainly got a tough game today. We didn't do ourselves any favours. I thought our batting effort was deeply ordinary. "We stuck it out really well with the ball. I thought the guys bowled pretty well and gave ourselves a bit of a sniff when they went six down but not enough runs on the board."
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World Cup standings
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Standings (played, won, lost, tied, no result, points, net run rate)
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Group A
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Pakistan 6 5 1 0 0 10 +0.758 - qualified
Sri Lanka 6 4 1 0 1 9 +2.582 - qualified
Australia 6 4 1 0 1 9 +1.123 - qualified
New Zealand 6 4 2 0 0 8 +1.135 - qualified
Zimbabwe 5 1 4 0 0 2 -0.669
Canada 6 1 5 0 0 2 -1.987
Kenya 5 0 5 0 0 0 -3.005
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Group B
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South Africa 6 5 1 0 0 10 +2.026 - qualified
India 5 3 1 1 0 7 +0.768 - qualified
England 6 3 2 1 0 7 +0.072 - qualified
West Indies 5 3 2 0 0 6 +1.650
Bangladesh 6 3 3 0 0 6 -1.361
Ireland 6 2 4 0 0 4 -0.696
Netherlands 6 0 6 0 0 0 -2.045
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