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Ibrahim Zadran hit a 40-ball 63 in Afghanistan’s win. © Getty
Afghanistan earned their first points of the T20I tri-series in UAE after downing hosts UAE by 38 runs in Sharjah. Breezy fifties from opener Sediqullah Atal (63 off 40) and Ibrahim Zadran (54 off 40), and some late hitting from Azmatullah Omarzai and Karim Janat pushed Afghanistan to 188/4. Muhammad Waseem then made a fist of the chase with his whirlwind knock (67 off 37), while Rahul Chopra chipped in too (52* off 35). But UAE were undone by a brittle middle-order that collapsed easily against the genius of Rashid Khan, who emerged atop the list of leading wicket-takers in T20Is by the end of the night, and Sharafuddin Ashraf.
UAE made an early dent after choosing to bowl when Rohit Khan dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz. But that was as good as it got in the PowerPlay for them as Atal and Zadran pushed Afghanistan ahead with their second-wicket alliance. Saghir Khan’s expensive, 18-run over in the sixth helped Afghanistan get to to 43/1 in six overs – a solid start that the batting pair successfully consolidated upon. In the 11th over, Atal reached his maiden T20I half-century but fell to Saghir in the 13th. Zadran continued to throw his bat around, hitting sixes off Dhruv Parashar and Saghir. He scored his ninth T20I fifty and set his team up for a big finish at the death.
He and Azmatullah Omarzai hit two sixes in the 17th over from Junaid Siddique to drag the team past 150. Saghir pulled one back with Zadran’s wicket in the 18th, but 10 runs still came from it. Karim Janat arrived swinging for the skies, hitting two fours and two sixes in a 22-run 19th over from Rohid. Siddique gave away just five singles in the 20th but Afghanistan still finished with a challenging 188/4.
Muhammad Zohaib then perished in the second over of the chase but UAE were propelled by their captain Waseem. He headlined a 61-run stand with Ethan D’Souza, doing the majority of the scoring in it. He smashed two sixes off Mujeeb Ur Rahman and laid into left-arm spinner Ashraf – who made it to the XI ahead of Noor Ahmad. A 15-run over from Ashraf powered UAE past 50 in just five overs, laying down a strong platform for their chase. Waseem hit Omarzai for a four and six to close out the PowerPlay at 66/1.
Waseem continued to swing his willow through the middle-overs but Rashid made a crucial incision. He took out D’Souza in the ninth over. In the 10th, Waseem top-edged a delivery from Arshaf to short fine leg to trudge off after an essay that included four fours and six sixes. UAE were still on course with 91/3 in 10 overs but the Afghanistan spinners began to dig their heels in. Rashid struck on the first ball of the 11th over to dismiss Asif Khan while Mohammad Nabi took out Harshit Kaushik in the 14th. Rashid finished his fine spell of 3-21 with the wicket of Parashar. With that, he became the leading wicket-taker in T20Is (165 wickets).
UAE’s lower-order was left to chase 78 off the last 30 deliveries and expectedly crumbled, even as Rahul led a lone fight. He hit two fours and a six off Omarzai in the 20th over to finish unbeaten but his team fell well short in chase.
Brief Scores: Afghanistan 188/4 in 20 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 63, Sediqullah Atal 54; Rashid Khan 1/28)beat UAE 150/8 in 20 overs (Mohammad Waseem 67, Rahul Chopra 52*; Rashid Khan 3/21, Sharafuddin Ashraf 3/24) by 38 runs
© Cricbuzz
