Pakistan beat United Arab Emirates to qualify for Super Four

It wasn’t a walk in the park as many may have expected given the skill difference between the two teams, but Pakistan have managed to beat UAE and have thus qualified for the Asia Cup Super Four along with India. It was a swift finish, with UAE losing their last seven wickets for just 20 runs.

In the first innings, UAE pacer Junaid Siddique picked up 4/18 while left-arm spinner Simranjeet Singh took three wickets to limit Pakistan to 146/9 in a must-win clash for both the sides.

Pakistan were buoyed by Shaheen Afridi’s late burst with the bat. Backing up his cameo versus India, the senior pro pummeled an unbeaten 29 off 14 balls, including two fours and as many sixes in the last over.

The commencement of the match was delayed by an hour. PCB greenlighted their players to show up after the board claimed that the match referee Andy Pycroft had apologised to their cricketers for his actions during the India-Pakistan game on Sunday, which the men in blue won comfortably.

Siddique justified UAE’s decision to bowl first on a grassy surface by claiming the misfiring Saim Ayub’s wicket. Sahibzada Farhan escaped an lbw appeal, which was overturned due to DRS, but fell soon after top-edging a pull to long leg as Pakistan crumbled to 9/2 in three overs.

Fakhar Zaman and Salman Agha had the most productive partnership for Pakistan, adding 61 off 50 balls for the third wicket. Fakhar was the enabler in the stand as he thumped off-spinner Dhruv Parashar for back-to-back sixes, reaching his half-century off 35 balls.

Pakistan, however, lost wickets in a clump thereafter. Agha, wanting to go inside-out over covers, sliced Parashar to deep cover before Simranjeet fetched two wickets in an over. Fakhar departed right after his half-century, caught off a leading edge at short extra cover, while Hasan Nawaz was trapped in front. Siddique returned his third wicket when he got the better of Nawaz and then removed Haris with a leg-cutter.