Pakistan need to keep winning in the 2015 World Cup when they take on UAE at Napier. Join The Roar for live coverage of this Group B game from 11:30am (AEDT).
It was a near thing for Pakistan in their previous game against Zimbabwe.
After two defeats from two matches, Pakistan had a woeful start to that game, as they lost two wickets for 14 runs in their first 10 overs.
That they recovered from that was thanks to Misbah-ul-Haq’s 73 and some late-order heroics from Wahab Riaz, who smashed a 46-ball 54 towards the end of the innings.
That provided the difference of a score between 200 and what they eventually did, thereby allowing their bowlers the chance to defend the total. Mohammad Irfan got enough bounce to trouble Zimbabwe and he was helped by Wahab Riaz again, with the two bowlers sharing eight of the wickets to fall.
Zimbabwe’s fight came too late in the day to save them as they fell away to a 20-run loss.
Pakistan now have the chance to make it two wins from two games and boost their chances of making it to the quarter-finals. A big win will also improve their run-rate and with Ireland having fallen to a 200-run defeat to South Africa on Tuesday, that will make qualifying for the knock-out stages lot more difficult for the Irish.
UAE started the tournament off well, but they fell away badly against India.
The extra bounce at the WACA was always going to be a worry and it came to the fore against the Indian speedsters and spinners who bowled them out to just over 100. India chased that down in less than 19 overs to deflate the UAE.
How well they bounce will be a crucial factor for them in this game.
The ground at Napier will offer much easier conditions than most others and that should ease the batsmen’s concerns, but will that be good enough for them to bat first and try and get another good score?
As was on display in the Zimbabwe game, Pakistan defend scores better than they chase, and that’s the one advantage UAE could go into the game with – to bat first and put runs on the board.
You can follow the live scores of this Pakistan vs UAE World Cup encounter from 11:30am (AEDT) and post your comments in the section below.
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