World Cup 2015: Pakistan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, make new records

World Cup 2015: Pakistan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, make new records: Pakistan entered Brisbane cricket ground with a ‘Do or Die’ situation in their hands. A win would keep their hopes alive to qualify into the next stage of the world cup while losing today would have meant that Misbah and his men should start packing their bags for home. The start was disastrous, just four runs on the board and both Pakistani openers were already back in the hut. Just like everyday, Misbah had to build the Pakistan innings with no or little contributions from his partners. Wahab’s power-hitting at the back end helped Pakistan post a respectable total in the end.

Zimbabwe had a very shaky start against the 7 foot GIANT Mohammad Irfan, losing two early wickets. Hamilton, Taylor and Williams worked hard to control the damage caused but fiery Wahab Riaz had other plans today and his four wickets during and after the batting power play added nothing but more troubles for Zimbabweans. In the end, Pakistan registered their first win of the tournament by 20 runs.

Here is a CricTrcker stats pack from the game today:

• Leader of the Leaders – Misbah-ul-Haq has now scored 5712* runs as Pakistan’s Captain across all formats of the game after his hard-working 73 today surpassing the Great Imran Khan’s 5655 runs for ‘Most Runs by a Pakistan Captain’.
• Birthday, Duckday – Shahid Afridi became only the 2nd batsman after Ian Bell in 2007 to register a DUCK on his birthday on a WC game.
• 2 – Number of Pakistan batsmen who have scored a WC 50 after coming in at number 8 or lower. Wahab Riaz with his match-saving 54* became the 2nd after Abdul Razzaq’s 62 vs New Zealand at Pallekele in 2011.
• 40 – Not just Misbah’s age but also the number of half-centuries he has now scored in ODIs without converting one into a century, 15 clear of Andrew Jones behind him on the list.
• 30 – Number of ODI DUCKS for Shahid Afridi now, 29 of them came when playing for Pakistan surpassing Wasim Akram’s 28 – Most for a Pakistani Batsman.
• One Short from Glory – Umar Akmal grabbed 5 catches behind the stumps today. Had he taken one more, he would have equaled Adam Gilchrist’s record for Most Catches by a WK in a WC Game.
• A Pakistan’s New – Umar’s 5 catches today were the MOST by a Pakistani WK in a world cup game. Also the joint-most for a Pakistani in ODIs.
• Not Good but Equal – Umar Akmal’s 5 dismissals today were joint-most by a Pakistani WK in a WC game. Rashid Latif vs New Zealand at Lahore affected the same (5; 4 catches, 1 stumping) in 1996.
• An All-Round Effort– Wahab Riaz 54* & 4/45 became the 1st Pakistani all-rounder to score a 50 and take more than 3 wickets in the same WC game.
• ZERO – Number of times Zimbabwe has beaten Pakistan in a World Cup game. Pakistan has won 5 times out of the 6 meetings, one match was abandoned due to rain.
• 9 out of 10– Number of wickets shared by Pakistan’s left-arm pacers today (Irfan 4, Wahab 4, Rahat 1) – a first for any team.
• Oldest Winner– Misbah-ul-Haq (40 years & 277 days) became the oldest ODI Captain to win a WC game. Also, the only to win after aged 40.
• Best than the Rest – Pakistan successfully defended their score of 235 today – lowest total successfully defended by any team in this world cup.
• First on March 1– This is Pakistan’s first win in an ODI on March 1. Rain abandoned the fixture in 1992 while they lost to India in 2003.
• Afridi the Influence– Shahid Afridi now equals Inzamam-ul-Haq’s record to be involved in most ODI wins among players from Pakistan – 215 wins.