Sri Lanka came close to registering their maiden victory over Pakistan in a World Cup game when they clashed at Leeds in 1983 but they fell short by 11 runs. Put into bat in bowler-friendly conditions, pacer Asantha de Mel's 5-39 in 12 overs helped Sri Lanka restrict Pakistan to 235 for seven in their 60 overs. De Mel had Pakistan's top order in all sorts of trouble at 30-3. Rumesh Ratnayake made further inroads by dismissing Javed Miandad (7) and Ijaz Faqih (0) as Pakistan languished at 43-5.

Imran Khan played a captain's knock for Pakistan with a stubborn 102 not out. He was well-supported by a relatively unknown right-hand batsman Shahid Mahboob, who scored 77, as the duo stitched a 144-run stand for the sixth wicket.