Ahmad Shehzad scored 93 and Haris Sohail 70 in a 160-run second-wicket partnership for what would have seemed to be an imposing total of 339-6 for UAE.
But what should worry coach Waqar Younis and his stable was the pair's inability to take their total to three figures when the powerplay kicked in or that they didn't acquire a better run rate that could be the difference between staying or jetting back home.
Waqar put on a brave face at the press conference, content with the win and acquiring a modicum of confidence going into the match against South Africa in Auckland on Saturday.
"It's a crucial game not only to qualify [for the playoffs] but to beat a top team," the former international said, emphasising Pakistan had beaten South African on their own soil so he could see no reason why they couldn't emulate their feat on foreign territory.
How much confidence they will ooze will become transparent at Eden Park not long before co-hosts Australia will find themselves in a similar predicament against a resurgent Sri Lanka.
While teams such as the Proteas and Sri Lanka have been stung into action after a defeat, it remains to be seen if Pakistan are capable of drawing on the reservoir of gritty determination of their countrymen in the yesteryear.
It doesn't help that Mohammad Irfan hobbled off, nursing a gluteal strain although Waqar was upbeat the seven-footer would recover in time.
Yesterday, opening batsman Nasir Jamshed was sitting on four runs and Pakistan were 10 not out when a journalist quipped: "That is Pakistan's best start in the World Cup to date."
Another sharp-witted scribe put the record straight: "No, actually 11 not out is their best."
The very next ball Jamshed departed for four runs.
"That is a 300 per cent improvement on Jamshed's average in the World Cup," someone facetiously chimed in at the expense the 25-year-old lefthander from Lahore who ardent fans believe should vacate his position to Sarfaraz Ahmed.
A grinning Waqar sidestepped the issue again last night, preferring to shuffle the cards on the seven or eight batsmen split argument.
No 3 Sohail would have given his countrymen further heart palpitations in the seventh over when a UAE fielder got precariously close to snaffling his ill-timed aerial loft to mid on.
A few balls later it was opener Shezad's turn for a second life at point.
In what is becoming a habitual occurrence, captain Misbah-ul-Haq swept his way to 65, albeit falling seven runs shy of a milestone 5000 ODI runs.
Sohaib Maqsood scored a quickfire 45 from 31 balls in a fourth-wicket 75-run partnership with Misbah but it doesn't detract from the fact that Pakistan are still in that anaemic patch.
UAE had their moments with a lusty six bringing up their 100 and Manjula Guruge claiming 4-56 to lend credence to the theory that if you manufacture dot balls then wickets will take care of themselves.
It hardly mattered that UAE captain Imran Tauqir enigmatically chose to bowl on winning the toss.
"We thought there would be a little movement in the overcast conditions so we wanted to get them out early and then chase the runs," Tauquir explained to the media scrum.
He agreed shoddy fielding was their undoing but revealed they didn't want to "a make a mockery of themselves" in the run chase by holing out in 30-odd overs.
