Afghanistan beat UAE by four runs in the penultimate nail-biting thriller of T20I Tri-Nation Series.
Afghanistan set a target of 171 for the UAE which the hosts could not achieve despite spirited fight. They only managed 166 in last over with the loss of five wickets.
Afghanistan Scorecard:
Rashid Khan and other five players were sitting out as Ibrahim Zardan captained the team. Zardan was also declared man of the match for scoring 48 runs in 35 balls. Haider Ali took Zardan’s wicket. Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the second top scorer who managed 40 off 38 balls. Karim Janat scored 28 off 20 balls while Gulbadin Naib and Azmatullah Omarzai remained not out on 20 and 14 scores respectively. Wicket Keeper Muhammad Ishaq only managed five off 10 balls before throwing his wicket to Simranjeet Sing. Haider also took Karim’s wicket. Gurbaz lost his wicket to Muhammad Farooq. Fifteen extra boosted Afghanistan’s moderate total.
UAE Scorecard:
UAE Captain Muammad Wasim and Asif Khan remained the top scorers for UAE who scored 44 and 40 respectively. Alishan 27, Muhammad Zohaib 23, Rahul Chopra 7, Harshit Kaushik 15 (Not Out). Fareed Ahmad, Mujeebur Rehman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Noor Ahmad and Abdollah Ahmadzai claimed one wicket each.
Final Pakistan vs Afghanistan:
Pakistan and Afghanistan will now face each other in the final on September 7 (Sunday). Pakistan has secured the seat in final by beating Afghanistan once and UAE twice. Afghanistan secured top ranking on point table in the tri-series after winning Friday’s match.
Earlier, Afghanistan skipper Ibrahim Zardan has won the toss and elected to bat first against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the T20I Tri-Nation Series match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday evening. Pakistan and Afghanistan have already qualified for the final, while the hosts are looking for their first win in the tournament.
Afghanistan Playing XI:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Noor Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Abdullah Ahmadzai
UAE Playing XI: Muhammad Waseem (c), Muhammad Zohaib, Asif Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Rahul Chopra (wk), Harshit Kaushik, Haider Ali, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Rohid, Junaid Siddique, Simranjeet Singh
