Pakistan comprehensively beat Zimbabwe in a rain affected match – ICC World Cup update
Pakistan marched into the quarter finals of the ICC World Cup 2011 by beating Zimbabwe comprehensively in their fifth group game. The match was a start-stop affair with the rain but in the end Pakistan got home chasing a revised target.
Ideally Pakistan would have wanted to bat first, considering that in the last two games at the same venue, teams batting first had won the match. However Zimbabwe after winning the toss chose to bat first but Pakistan bowlers did well to contain the African
side. With two rain delays and wickets going down at regular intervals Zimbabwe were never allowed to gain any momentum. The innings was cut short by yet another rain delay. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 had smooth sailing apart from a couple of wickets going down here and there.
The Men in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Green-c60723 made it into the final eight of the competition as expected and the big test begins now.
Zimbabwe’s innings started with Brendon Taylor and Regis Chakabva opening the batting under an overcast sky. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 though got sweet revenge soon as he got
Taylor caught behind in the same over. Next over saw Umar Gul trapping Chakbva LBW for nought. The most consistent batsmen for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tatenda-Taibu-c92882, walked in next and played a few delightful strokes. His partner Vusi Sibanda was caught
in the slips for just five off Umar Gul. Craig Ervine and Taibu added some valuable runs before Taibu was caught for 19 off the bowling of Wahab Riaz. Greg Lamb walked in and gave Ervine company as the two tried to resurrect the innings. The pair added 41
runs for the 4th wicket before Lamb was caught and bowled by Shahid Afridi for 16 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Elton-Chigumbura-c55937 the captain and the birthday boy, walked in next but the heavens soon opened and the match was stopped. When they came back the innings had been reduced to 43 overs. Ervine completed his half century and was soon clean bowled by Muhammad
Hafeez for 52 runs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Prosper-Utseya-c82728 and Chigumbura put together a decent stand before Utseya was out for 18 caught behind off Umar Gul. Zimbabwe had scored 151 from 39.4 overs when it started raining again and the innings was eventually ended. According to
the Duckworth and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lewis-c72807 Method Pakistan were given a target of 162 from 38 overs.
Zimbabwe started well with the ball and first the 11 balls did not account for any runs. Ahmed Shehzad and Muhammad Hafeez finally got off the mark playing some big shots. Shehzad went for a big one and missed the ball. He was stumped by Ray http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Price-c82662 for just
eight rund. With another failure he is sure to be dropped in the next game.
Next man in was Asad Shafiq, the calm middle order batsman from Karachi. He knew that he had to make the most of his first chance in the World Cup. The right-hander, who says he has modelled his game on Muhammad Yousuf, played a responsible hand. Alongside
Muhammad Hafeez he led Pakistan’s chase. The two knew that the required rate was not much and played steadily. Hafeez was dismissed one short of his half century. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 came in and was bowled for just three. Shafiq was the one who played the winning
shot as Pakistan got home in the 35th over. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shafiq-c89281 was unbeaten at 78 as Pakistan got home by seven wickets. Umar Gul was named man of the match for his three wicket haul.
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