At Napier, New Zealand on 4th March 2015, UAE won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat. UAE kindly host Pakistan’s home games and we are very grateful to them. However today UAE also provided Pakistan’s struggling team with some essential confidence building match practice.
Nasir Jamshed’s miserable run continued as for a third time he pulled a ball straight into the fielder’s hands. Lesson for Jamshed AVOID the pull shot early on at all costs, play with a straight bat. Shehzad was fortunate to be dropped twice early on.
Together with Haris Sohail, they put on a splendid partnership of 160. When Sohail departed for 70. Shehzad was unfortunately run out for 93. Sohaib Maqsood contributed with a swift 45 off 31 balls. As always our rock Misbah ul Haq didn’t disappoint with a useful 65 runs.
Congratulations to BOOM BOOM Shahid Afridi for reaching the landmark 8000 ODI runs, with as expected a 6!
With some lusty blows towards the end Pakistan ended with 339 for 6.
In reply UAE were allowed to bat for 50 overs making 210/8. Pakistan won by 129 runs. Sohail Khan, Afridi and Wahab Riaz took 2 wickets each. Also of note Nasir Jamshed actually held onto a catch on the boundary! Man of the Match awarded to Ahmed Shehzad for his 93.
As I have mentioned previously Mohammad Irfan who can have some fantastic bowling spells, is always prone to injury. Today he only bowled 3 overs before a hip strain took hold. He may struggle to make the next important group match.
However the win bags another useful 2 points. Stay tuned Pakistan may still qualify for the quarter finals.
- Hafiz & Ajmal missing you alot, come back quick.
Next Pakistan match is versus South Africa on Saturday 7th March, Auckland, New Zealand.
