Shehzad shines as Pakistan crush shoddy UAE by 129 runs in WC tie

Pakistan have moved to fourth spot in Pool B table on Tuesday with a comprehensive win over the United Arab Emirates by 129 runs in their World Cup tie in Napier.

Put in to bat first, Pakistan crossed the 300-run milestone for the first time in this year's tournament as they went on to post a challenging target of 339 runs.

Following the dismissal of opener Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad (93) and Haris Sohail (70) steadily built a strong 160-run partnership for the second wicket to steer Pakistan to a stable position.

Shehzad, who was named the Man-of-the-Match, fell seven runs short of his seventh century as he was run out while attempting to steal an extra run off Mohammad Naveed.

Subsequently, skipper Misbah-ul-Haq accelerated their innings as he went on to built two half-century partnerships quickly with Sohail Maqsood (45) and Umar Akmal (19).

Misbah smacked 65 runs off just 49 balls before being caught by Rohan Mustafa off Manjula Guruge delivery.

Further, Shahid Afridi blasted a brisk 21 runs off just seven balls to post an imposing target for the tournament minnows.

Guruge was the pick of the bowlers for UAE as claimed four wickets for 56 runs.

Chasing the target, UAE were reeling at 25-3 in the 10th over before Shaiman Anwar (62) and Khurram Khan (43) provided some resistance as they put on 83 runs for the fourth wicket.

Swapnil Patil and Amjad Javed further tried to stage some more resistance as they built a 68-run stand for the seventh wicket before being bowled out by Wahab Riaz.

However, the rest of the batsmen couldn't cope with the hovering run-rate and could only make 210 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 50 overs.

Sohail Khan, Afridi and Riaz scalped two wickets each, while Rahat Ali and Maqsood claimed one wicket each.