Day 18 featured two matches first one was Pakistan and UAE and the other one was between Australia and Afghanistan. Pakistan was looking for another win to keep their hopes of qualifying for quarter finals alive. While UAE was looking to capitalize on Pakistan's poor form. In other match Australia wanted to forget defeat against kiwis by getting a big win in this match. While Afghanistan was coming into this match with lot of confidence which they got by beating Scotland.
Game 25: Pakistan vs UAE
UAE put Pakistan to bat after winning the toss. It was slow start by Jamshed and Shehzad. Pakistan needed their top order to score big but Jamshed got out in the 4th over only. He just try to pull everything. Here also he tried to pull one of those deliveries which was not there to pull hence he got out. When Pakistan loose an early wicket you start thinking of collapse but here Shehzad and Haris Sohail got together and gradually they steadied the ship. Once they got their eye in then they started hitting the boundaries. They build a crucial partnership for Pakistan. They stayed at the crease almost 30 overs and made the partnership of 160. Both of them hit half centuries and both of them followed each other to the pavilion after that. Haris Sohail made 70 while Shehzad missed the century only by 7 runs. After that Misbah and Maqsood raised the tempo of runs. Both of them are hard hitters of the cricket ball and both played their natural game.
Misbah and Maqsood added 75 runs to the total in round about 9 overs. Maqsood got out then on 45 and at that time Pakistan was 251/4. Again there was quick partnership of 60 runs between Misbah and Akmal which took Pakistan past 300. Misbah made yet another half century and both Misbah and Akmal went back to the pavilion off consecutive deliveries. Afridi was still to come. He came and did boom boom. He made 21 runs off just 7 balls. Afridi's cameo took Pakistan to 339 at the end of their 50 overs. Now that was Pakistan like innings. This is how you post 300+ runs total on the board. Guruge was pick of the bowlers for UAE as he dismissed 4 Pakistani batsmen. In reply as usual UAE's top order were not able to give them the start they wanted. UAE was 25/3 and after that their real batting started with Khurram and Anwar in the middle. Both of them added 80 odd runs for the fourth wicket before Khurram got out on 43.
Anwar went on to make yet another half century in this world cup and with that he became the leading run scorer of the tournament. Who imagined that a batsman of associate nation will become the leading run scorer of the world cup at some point of time. It would have been proud moment for him as well. Anwar got out on 62. After that Javed again made quick fire 40. This has been the trend in UAE's batting in this world cup players like Anwar, Javed and Naveed come and show some fireworks. By the time these batsmen come out to bat most of the match gets over so they just come try to go for win but they don't succeed. As batsmen at the top consume so much of deliveries that match goes out of their hands everytime. Here also UAE was 210/8 at the end of their 50 overs and Pakistan won it comfortably. Pakistan won its second match in this world cup. All Pakistani bowlers shared the wickets among themselves. Ahmed Shehzad was judged man of the match.
Game 26: Australia vs Afghanistan
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to field first. I won't say that it was a right decision or it was a wrong decision it was just a decision which a captain took after winning the toss. Afghanistan was playing against mighty Aussies so any decision after the toss would have put them in trouble. Finch and Warner came out to face Zadran brothers. Afghanistan had the first laugh as Dawlat Zadran picked up Finch early. Australia was 14/1 as Finch got out. Smith came out at no. 3 which I think was a good decision. Clarke was trying to fit himself in that batting order which was stronger without him. So the promotion of Smith was a good decision. Smith and Warner just tormented Afghanistan's bowling attack. Smith was playing supporting role to Warner as this pocket size dynamo was in different mood that day. He was unstoppable. He crossed 50, 100 and 150 with such an ease and furiousness that it looked like he was going to break Rohit Sharma's record of 264. Finally he was stopped at 178 in 38th over.
Maxwell replaced Warner in the middle. Hence there was no relief for Afghanistan. Maxwell came and started clearing the boundaries without wasting even a single minute. On the other hand Smith was going strong but his innings ended just 5 runs short of hundred. At that stage 420-430 was looking good for Australia as Faulkner replaced Smith in the middle. How can any batsman maintain the strike rate of 200+ in slog overs. Well, Maxwell can maitain it. Here Maxwell was looking good to make a fastest hundred in the world cup but unfortunately he got out on 88 in 48th over. He made those 88 runs of just 39 balls. After that the scoring rate went down and Australia ended up at 417 surpassing India's record total of 413. After seeing that total on the board players of Afghanistan would have been thinking why are we playing. In reply hapless Afghanistan was not able to do much. As Australian fast bowlers came all guns blazing in the second innings and they bowled out Afghanistan on 142. Mangal was highest scorer for them. He made 33 runs. While Johnson was pick of the bowlers as he picked up 4 wickets in that match.
It was that day in cricket world cup when top teams completely dominated the associates. Pakistan was able to keep their hopes alive with that win. While Australia moved on in the tournament after the loss against New Zealand. It is a clash of minnows on day 19 as Bangladesh take on Scotland. It is an important clash of minnows.
#CWC15 day 19
#CWC15 day 19
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