Pakistan won their second match in a row to beat UAE by 129 runs and go to 4th place below India, South Africa and West Indies.

By PakPassion Staff ( 4th Match, 2015)

Pakistan 339/6 in 50 overs (Ahmed Shehzad 93, Haris Sohail 70, Misbah-ul-Haq 65, Shahid Afridi 35/2, Sohail Khan 54/2)

UAE in 210/8 50 overs (Shaiman Anwar 62,Khurram Khan 43, AM Guruge 56/4)

Toss:
UAE won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Result:
Pakistan won by 129 runs


Pakistan Innings:

Pakistan started their batting with the same opening combination of Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Naveed and AM Guruge were the opening bowlers for UAE. The start given by the Pakistan openers remained the biggest worry for the team as even against a weak bowling side of UAE the first wicket fell very early when Nasir Jamshed top edged a pull-shot and was dismissed at mid-wicket for 4 runs on Guruge's bowling.

The score was 10/1 when Haris Sohail arrived at the crease. Ahmed Shehzad looked scratchy and was cautious after the fall of an early wicket. He found extreme luck at his side today as he was dropped twice by the UAE fielders in 2 back to back overs. Haris on the other hand looked more organised with his approach and played couple of good shots to get into the groove. The partnership continued to develop between the two as they first safely took the team total to 50 and then to 100 quickly. Both batsmen adopted an attacking approach and crossed their individual half century mark.

The partnership continued to progress, runs were flowing and the two batsman looked well set towards their individual hundreds until Haris played a silly loose shot to throw his wicket away on 70. Score was 170/2 when Sohaib Maqsood arrived, only six were added by the two before Pakistan lost another wicket and this time it was Shehzad who ran himself out on 93. Misbah was the next man in, the two batsman had a 75 run stand where they scored at 8.49 run per over and Maqsood played a very good knock of 45 runs on 32 balls from one end. 

Misbah supported Maqsood well then Umar Akmal arrived at 251/4, 8 overs were left and Pakistan were aiming atleast 100 runs now both batsmen were going after every opportunity, both hit boundaries and sixes and 61 runs to the team's total during their stand. Misbah reached another half century during the stand before Akmal got caught in the deep for 19 runs on the 49th over. Misbah fell on the next ball on the score of 65.

Pakistan were 312/6 and both the new batsman Shahid Afridi and Wahab Riaz were batting in the second last over, 2 sixes and a boundary were hit by Afridi where as Wahab could only manage a huge six to finish things off for Pakistan as they set up a target of 340 to chase.

UAE Innings:

UAE started their run chase with Amjad Ali and AR Berenger as they faced Pakistan's Mohammad Irfan and Sohail Khan. They started slowly and only could score 2 boundaries off Sohail in the sixth over before losing their first wicket in the 7th over when Rahat Ali removed UAE's opener by clean bowling him for 14 runs. From the other end, Sohail Khan came back strongly in the next over as his delivery got Berenger's outside edge to keeper for the score of 2 runs.

Khurram Khan and Krishna Chandran were the next batting pair. Runs were stopped and the two found it difficult to score freely against the pacers. Sohail Khan who was in wicket taking form managed to get another outside edge of Krishna Chandran who faced 11 balls for his 0. Score was 25/3 when Shaiman Anwar arrived, He came with an attacking mindset and took Sohail khan to cleaners when he hit him a six and a four in one over. Scoreboard started moving for UAE and the partnership added 83 important runs on the board which helped UAE recover from the early loss of wickets.

Meanwhile, Pakistan were short of bowlers when the two pace man Irfan and Sohail were off the field. Part time bowlers were used like Maqsood who was able to break this partnership when he got Khurrum out for 43. Next was SP Patil, Shaiman Anwar continued his great form and reached towards his half century before falling victim to the erratic Afridi for 62. Rohan Mustafa walked in next and was only able to manage 1 ball of Afridi before getting out to him on 0. 

Score was 140/6 when Amjad Javed arrived, the two batsman kept the score board ticking and tried to dragged the scoreboard as far as they could. Sohail Khan's 47th over cost 21 runs when Amjad Javed took him to the cleaners. Wahab got two wickets to get both the batsmen dismissed but UAE could still not be bowled out in 50 overs. They ended up with 210/8 and lost by 129 runs.

Summary

Regardless of the opposition, a win can only do wonders for Pakistan. Ahmed Shehzad did have some anxious moments at the crease but did come through and Haris Sohail has also show consistency. Pakistan's only real concern, as they look forward to the game against South Africa will continue to be that of Nasir Jamshed's lack of form and of Mohammad Irfan's lack of fitness.

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