Another clash of minnows. Here Zimbabwe has shown lot of potential to go one step forward in this world cup. First they defeated Sri Lanka in warm-up games then made 270+ runs against South Africa. On the other hand I don't know what to expect from UAE. Minnows has shown lot of fight in this world cup so far. So here in the battle of minnows we have to see which team ended up as winner.
Game 8: Zimbabwe vs UAE
Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to field first. Zimbabwean bowlers were bang on target from the word go. They only gave away 34 runs in first 10 overs and picked a wicket in that powerplay. End of powerplay brought one more wicket for Zimbabwe. By the time UAE reached 50 they were2 down. Chandran and Khurram started repairing the ship which got two blows pretty early in the innings. Chandran holded one end while Khurram played his shots in that partnership.
Both of them added 82 runs to the total. At that moment it looked like repair work of the ship has been done and it started sailing smoothly. Only then that ship got two more blows. Chandran went back to pavilion after slow and sluggish 32 at total of 122. Khurram followed him at the total of 134. He made 45 at the strike rate of almost 82. Then Patil and Anwar started the repair work. They carried the innings forward at good pace as there was not much time left. Patil and Anwar too added 82 runs but in just 11 overs. Patil got out at the score of 216 but Anwar carried on. He made 67 runs of 50 balls and got out in 45th over. By that time UAE touched the mark of 232 but the cameos of Javed and Naveed (sound much like Sita and Gita) took UAE to the score of 285. It was highest team total by UAE ever in an ODI game. According to me it was very good total by keeping UAE in mind. Chatara was the stand out bowler for Zimbabwe. He picked 3 wickets for 42 runs. Zimbabwe had to work hard to reach to that total.
Zimbabwe started off well. They got 55 runs by the end of mandatory powerplay. Sikandar was enjoying the time in the middle. He was scoring at good rate. Unfortunately he got out just 4 short of his 50. Moreover it wasn't Masakadza's day as he got out on 1. Taylor was looking good but he needed support at the other end to chase that total but he didn't got it. He missed the full delivery on 47 and got out. Soon Zimbabwe was struggling at 167/5. I thought it is over for them and if UAE won it then it won't be less than an upset as Zimbabwe has shown lot of potential in the tournament so far.
Williams and Ervine had some other plans. They scored 45 runs in batting powerplay and that turned the match in their favour. They made the partnership of 83 runs in 60 odd balls before Ervine got out on 42. Then Chigumbura had to support Williams as he was going pretty well. Chigumbura supported Williams well as he cruised Zimbabwe to victory. It was a great turn around for Zimbabwe. Williams and Ervine snatched victory from the point UAE started sensing victory.
Next up is New Zealand vs England. New Zealand is looking pretty good while there is still big question mark over England's batting. On day 7 English batsmen will come out answer lot of questions while New Zealand will search for another victory.
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