Cricketing minnows UAE felt the chasm between them and the Test playing nations once again as they suffered a big loss to Pakistan in a match where they never looked like threatening the opposition.
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Barring a brief period at the beginning, when the UAE dismissed the horribly out-of-form Nasir Jamshed early and then dropped two catches of Ahmed Shehzad, it was Pakistan all the way.
Shehzad made the UAE pay a heavy price for the mishaps, top-scoring with 93 and helping his side reach an imposing 339 for seven. In reply, the UAE did well to play a full quota of 50 overs, finishing on 210 for eight and losing by 129 runs.
With two wins in four matches, Pakistan have climbed up to fourth place in Group B, and also improved their net run rate, which looked dismal after the heavy losses to India and the West Indies.
UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir won the toss in overcast conditions and for the first time, decided to chase a target.
Ahmed Shahzad celebrates his fifty today against the UAE #PakvsUae pic.twitter.com/LpdcL5uoA4
— Ray (@OsamaBinSwagger) March 4, 2015
It may have looked like a mistake in hindsight, but the logic was sound.
They were immediately rewarded when the under-fire Jamshed not only broke his bat, but also the trust in him by the team management, when Khurram Khan at mid on safely pouched a miscued pull off pacer Manjula Guruge.
But Shehzad, when on eight, was dropped by a flying Khurram at mid off, and then four runs later, Andri Berenger made a mess of an easy catch at backward point.
Shehzad, who hit eight fours and a six in his 105-ball knock, added 160 runs for the second wicket with Haris Sohail (70 off 83 balls), and that partnership completely took the match away from the UAE.
Towards the later half of the innings, captain Misbah-ul Haq raced to his third half-century of the World Cup with a 65 in 49 balls, and added 75 for the fourth wicket with Sohaib Maqsood (45 in 31 balls).
Updated table with new NRR pic.twitter.com/bLAgNIIyxW
— Mr Pakistan (@MrPakistan786) March 4, 2015
Guruge was the most successful bowler for the UAE with 4-56 in eight overs, but pace bowler Mohammad Naveed (1-50 in 10 overs) was the most impressive. In reply, openers Amjad Ali and Berenger once again failed to give their side a good start, while Krishna Chandran, at No3, made a second duck in three innings as the UAE slumped to 25-3 in the 10th over.
A quick end looked imminent but Khurram (43) added 83 runs for the fourth wicket with the in-form Shaiman Anwar before Amjad Javed and Swapnil Patil put together 68 for the seventh wicket to make sure they batted out the 50 overs. The highlights for the UAE were the bowling display of Naveed (2-0-5-1) during the five Powerplay overs, and the batting of Anwar.
The Sialkot-born batsman continued his superb run of form and never looked in trouble as he eased to 62 runs in 88 balls before Jamshed caught him in the deep off Shahid Afridi.
Missed Haris Sohail’s innings against UAE? WATCH the full highlights here: http://t.co/eatxUnKwXZ pic.twitter.com/abJXZ5N1Ot
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) March 4, 2015
It took his tally in the World Cup to 270 from four innings, which is two runs better than Sri Lankan star Kumar Sangakkara as the highest run-getter of the tournament.
There was another milestone achieved earlier in the match when Afridi crossed the 8,000 run mark in ODIs during his seven-ball innings of 21 not out. He later took 2-35 and is now five wickets short of reaching the landmark of 400 wickets in ODIs.
For Pakistan, there are still a few problem areas, and the biggest issue they face is the form of opener Jamshed. In the four matches so far, the highest opening partner ship has been 11 runs, and there is a strong possibility that Sarfraz Ahmed will replace him in the match against South Africa.
They will also be sweating on the fitness of fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, who suffered a glute strain and bowled just three overs.
