Summary Pakistan will take on UAE in the World Cup Pool B match in Napier today.
NAPIER (Agencies) - Pakistan will target a huge improvement in batting to boost their net run-rate in the World Cup Pool B match against minnows United Arab Emirates in Napier (today) Wednesday.
Pakistan’s long standing batting woes have continued in the tournament as they lost their opening game against arch-rivals India by 76 runs and went down by a big 150-run margin in their second to the West Indies.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq wants to see a much-improved batting display following 76 and 150-run defeats by India and the West Indies in their opening two pool matches.
Even the win over Zimbabwe saw Pakistan held to a modest total of 235 for seven.
"From now on we have to play every game as if it is a knockout match," said Misbah.
"I think the top order is always the key, and if we really want to go further in this World Cup, we have to improve that."
The UAE have yet to win a match at this tournament, with Pakistan-born batsman Shaiman Anwar the shining light with scores of 67, 106 and 35 in defeats by Zimbabwe, Ireland and India respectively.
Despite being an amateur side, the UAE were competitive during a narrow two-wicket loss to Ireland and four-wicket defeat by Zimbabwe.
But they came unstuck last time out with a nine-wicket thrashing by world champions India.
"We had two good games to start with," said UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir. "We would like to erase this game (against India) as soon as possible.
"This whole tournament is a learning experience for us."
