NAPIER, New Zealand: Things finally seem to be falling into place for Pakistan.The former champions Wednesday gave their World Cup campaign another shot-in-the-arm by beating the United Arab Emirates by 129 runs here at the sparsely-crowded McLean Park.
Apart from Nasir Jamshed who failed again, Pakistan’s batting line-up was in top gear against a modest attack and on a flat wicket.Opener Ahmed Shehzad capitalised on two dropped catches to top score with 93 off 105 balls while Haris Sohail also hit his maiden World Cup fifty (70 off 83 balls) to give Pakistan the start they were looking for.
Misbahul Haq (65 off 49 balls) then posted his third 50 in four matches of the current World Cup while Sohaib Maqsood also found runs flowing from his bat before falling for 45 off 31 balls. Shahid Afridi then joined the party with a 7-ball 21 and in the process crossed the 8,000-run milestone in One-Day Internationals.
Pakistan, who have struggled to milk bowlers for runs in the death overs in their previous World Cup games, scored 143 from the final 12 overs.