Shahid Afridi took a four-wicket haul to help bowl out the West Indians for a paltry 112 in 43.3 overs. Generally rated as poor chasers and not without reason, Pakistan then produced a ruthless display with the bat as openers  Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal  flayed West Indies to make it a complete mismatch.

Hafeez hit his eighth one-day 50 – and the first in this tournament – while Kamran was unbeaten on 47 off 61 balls as Pakistan raced to victory with 175 balls unused. The only time West Indies came close to taking a wicket was when Kieron Pollard failed to catch Kamran at backward point in the third over.

Written off by their critics in the lead up to the World Cup, the 1992 champions came out with a clinical display to completely outclass the West Indians in all departments of the game.

“This is a great gift to give back to the nation on Pakistan Day,” Afridi said after the match.

The flamboyant allrounder led from the front as he stretched his tournament tally to 21 wickets with 4-30 while Hafeez picked two wickets in an over and allowed just 16 runs from his full allocations. Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, coming in place of left-armer Abdur Rehman, bowled some delightful doosras to finish with 2-18.

But it was Umar Gul’s sole wicket of the match that proved to be really decisive. The fast bowler had dangerman Chris Gayle caught at mid-off by Afridi and the West Indies failed to overcome that blow.

While the West Indians will head back home after the embarrassing loss, Pakistan has its sights set on the second semifinal on March 30 in Mohali where they might meet India if it beats Australia in the second quarterfinal on Thursday in Ahmadabad.

Earlier, the West Indians were shot out for their third lowest World Cup total after Darren Sammy elected to bat after winning what many thought was a crucial toss.

Gayle, who returned to the playing eleven after missing Sunday’s game against India due to an abdominal injury, smashed two boundaries before hitting Gul straight to Afridi at mid-off.

His team never recovered from that loss. Two wickets fell within a span of four balls as Hafeez bamboozled Davon Smith (7) and Darren Bravo (0) with his straighter ones.

It was then that Ramnaresh Sarwan was joined by Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the experienced duo tried to rescue their team from a total collapse. They batted with great care but runs weren’t easy to get. The two added 42 for the fourth wickets at less than two runs per over.

Pakistan were clinical as they bowled tightly and apart from Wahab Riaz, neither of their bowlers allowed the enemy to score even the singles easily.

It was Afridi, who broke the partnership by extracting enough bounce from the low and slow wicket to deceive Sarwan, who tried to drive only to hit it straight to Umar Akmal at point. Sarwan’s 24 came off 68 balls and included two boundaries.

In his next over, Afridi scalped the big-hitting Pollard (1) and Devon Thomas (0) off consecutive deliveries to end West Indies’ hopes of reaching a respectable total. He bowled a quicker one to Pollard, who attempt to cut it only resulted in a sharp catch taken by Kamran behind the stumps. The next one was a thunderbolt that skidded fast enough to trap Thomas plumb in front of middle and leg.

Ajmal then produced a couple of excellent doosras to get rid of Darren Sammy (1) and Davendra Bishoo (0) to leave the West Indians completely tattered at 71-8.

But Chanderpaul and Roach frustrated the Pakistanis with a 40-run stand for the ninth wicket from 14.3 overs.

It was the introduction of Abdul Razzaq that did the trick for Pakistan as the allrounder had him caught at mid-wicket by Younis Khan.

Afridi then picked his fourth wicket of the day, beating Ravi Rampual with a googly that pegged back from outside the leg stump. Chanderpaul, who was recalled to the playing eleven for the quarterfinal, was left stranded at the other end with a 106-ball 44 that included a six.