In the tri-series final league match, Afghanistan defeated the UAE by four runs in a thrilling match, leaving the hosts without a victory. Before Fareed Ahmad Malik delivered two dots and removed Asif Khan with the final delivery, leaving the hosts in pain, the UAE needed 17 runs from the final over and had scored 12 off the first three balls.
Alishan Sharafu, who struck 68 the night before, smashed a brilliant boundary to start the chase of 171. Sharafu and Muhammad Waseem consistently hit boundaries to maintain the scoring pace, giving the UAE the ideal PowerPlay. The UAE quickly reached 54/0 at the end of this session after hitting four boundaries and three sixes in the opening six. Unfortunately for the hosts, Noor Ahmad’s dismissal of Sharafu for 27 paved the way for Afghanistan.
Noor persisted in deceiving the batters from the United Arab Emirates, and his tactics led to further pressure from the opposing team. Karim Janat palmed the ball over the ropes, but was caught off the next ball to leave on 44, and Waseem into the 40s. As the visitors kept chipping away, Muhammad Zohaib found the fence twice and was the next to go.
Asif emerged and engaged the Afghan spinners in combat. At the end of the 17th over, he was on 7 off 13, and it appeared like he was not making any progress. But as the pace was restored, he was able to find his timing once more. He first hit 16 runs off the 18th, including two fours and a six, before hitting long-off for four in the following over, with 43 required off the last three. The equation dropped to 17 off the final over thanks to contributions from Harshit Kaushik at the other end, who smashed a four and a six.
With five runs needed off three, the UAE would have thought they had a chance, but Fareed’s astute death bowling ended the game for the visitors.
Earlier, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (40) and Ibrahim Zadran (48) put up a 98-run opening partnership to build up Afghanistan’s total of 170/4. The UAE let Afghanistan off the hook early on by dropping a catch and missing a run-out opportunity. Gurbaz and Ibrahim were quick runners who took advantage of any slippage by the UAE bowlers. In the eighth over, the pair brought up the partnership of fifty. After bringing out the horizontal bat shots, Ibrahim changed gears and proceeded to dance down the track, smashing legspinner Muhammad Farooq for six. Gurbaz gave the visitors a strong base before falling at the conclusion of the twelfth over.
Two more hitters came to the crease after Ibrahim dropped a ball to Haider Ali. Mohammad Ishaq had a difficult little stint at the wicket, but Janat’s respectable cameo of 28 off 14 (1X4, 3X6) brought Afghanistan very near to 150 before Haider got rid of him. Towards the end, Gulbadin Naib and Azmatullah Omarazai contributed vital boundaries that were ultimately insufficient to win.
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