Pakistan vs. West Indies - First quarter-final: Pakistan storm into Semifinals
A superb bowling effort by the Pakistani side left the West Indies batting line up in disarray. Bowled all out for 112 runs with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shivnarine-Chanderpaul-c90073 the West Indies side’s only bright performer scoring a valiant unbeaten 44 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kamran-Akmal-c70122 and Muhammad Hafeez took to the pitch knowing that their side had one foot in the semifinal and they only needed to maintain a two run per over run rate. Kemar Roach and his fellow West Indies bowlers knew that they needed to match Pakistan’s dominating bowling performance if they wished to stand a chance in the match.
Kamran Akmal and Muhammad Hafeez however seemed to have somewhere else to go and wanted to finish the match as soon as they could. Muhammad Hafeez showed his aggressive side when he hit Roach for two boundaries in the first over of the innings, with 11 runs coming from it.
Roach shared the new ball with Ravi Rampaul but he received the same treatment as his partner as he went for 14 runs. The Pakistani’s were off to a blistering start and at the rate they were going the match seemed to be heading towards a finish well before the schedule.
Kamran Akmal though was lucky when his ferocious shot seemed to go through the hands of Kieron Pollard. The ball eventually raced away to the boundary but it so easily could have been the early wicket the West Indies side so desperately needed.
Though harsh to have it termed as a dropped catch Thomas did well in his attempt to catch the ball when Hafeez got a slight nick on it. The West Indies would have been buoyed by the fact that they were at the very least creating chances. Though with the run rate at 8.6 runs per over after a fifth over costing 10 runs, the West Indies side knew that they needed to start taking those chances no matter how tough they were.
Devendra Bishoo was introduced into the bowling attack along with Captain Darren Sammy but they both suffered the same treatment as their predecessors at the hands of the now free playing Pakistani opening pair.
Muhammad Hafeez completed his half century in the 18 over with a stylish boundary that would’ve made its way into any cricket text book. There was no time for Kamran Akmal to reach his 50 though he did manage to get the winning runs with a boundary himself and an unbeaten score of 47 runs to go with it.
In the end the Pakistan team had dealt the West Indies team a crushing defeat as they booked their place in the semifinals of the world cup in emphatic fashion.
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