Pakistan beat UAE to book super four clash with India on Sunday

 Fakhar Zaman’s fifty and a late blitz by Shaheen Afridi helped Pakistan beat UAE by 41 runs in their Asia Cup match and book a blockbuster Super Four clash with arch-rivals India.

After setting a target of 147, Pakistan restricted UAE to 105, as Shaheen, Abrar Ahmed and Haris Rauf took two wickets each.     

After getting off to a promising start, UAE lost three wickets in quick succession which derailed their chase briefly and pushed them on the back foot.

Alishan Sharafu and Muhammad Waseem added 21 runs for the first wicket before Shaheen uprooted the stumps of Sharafu to give Pakistan the first breakthrough.

Waseem tried to slog a delivery wide outside the off stumps but failed to get his bat on it as Nawaz ran backward and stretched his arms to take almost an improbable catch.

Saim Ayub clean bowled Muhammad Zuhaib to make it 37/3.  UAE were facing another collapse. Dhruv Prashar and Rahul Chopra shared a 48-run partnership to keep the chase alive.

They played wisely without taking undue risk as the strategy looked simple. But they consumed too many deliveries which left a lot to be done by the others to come.

Rauf dismissed Prashar to bring respite to the Pakistani camp before Abrar Ahmed uprooted the stumps of Asif Khan and Chopra was caught off Agha as the UAE lost three wickets in quick succession.

UAE failed to get the partnership going and their batting collapsed like playing cards as they could muster only 105 all out.

Earlier, Junaid Siddique took a four-for and Simranjeet picked up three wickets as Pakistan feared a batting collapse before Shaheen Afridi's late blitz lifted them to a fighting total of 146/9.

Junaid justified the decision of his captain Muhammad Waseem as he gave UAE a fiery start, getting rid of out of form Pakistani openers Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan with just nine runs on the board.

Ayub tried to slice a short and wide delivery at deep third man but could not get the elevation right as the ball landed straight in the hands of Rohid.

Ayub’s woes with the bat continued as he was dismissed for a duck in the third consecutive innings, his fourth in the last six matches.

Sahibzada Farhan is also struggling with the bat. He has scored 137 runs in the last seven innings at an average of 16.8 with 40 being the highest against India.

He was the next to go. He failed to go judge the height of a rising delivery and miscued a shot as the ball took the leading edge and Zohaib completed a clean catch.

After losing two wickets early in the innings, Pakistan were pushed on the back foot right from the beginning. They needed someone to play a sheet-anchor role and bind the innings together.

Salman Agha and Fakhar Zaman stepped up to shoulder the burden and carry the innings forward.

They knuckled down to mend the falter innings. In the fourth over, Agha hit the first boundary of the match to release the pressure.

Both the batsmen gauged the situation and adapted themselves accordingly as they kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles. Pakistan reached 39/2 at the end of the first power play.

Fakhar was more aggressive of the two as he flexed his muscles in the ninth over and took 11 off it with the help of two fours off Haider Ali. After that there was no looking back as the left-hander as he kept on piling runs.

They added a valuable 61 runs for the third wicket to take the score to 70/2. Pakistan were looking set for a big total but Parashar struck to give UAE a vital breakthrough.

Prashar had Agha caught by Haider. The dismissal of Agha opened the floodgates for UAE bowlers. Simranjeet sprang into action and sent back Fakhar Zaman and Hasan Nawaz in the same over.

Zaman, who sprinted to his fifty with a single off 35 balls, holed out to Kaushik before Simranjeet trapped Hasan Nawaz in front of the wicket as Pakistan lost two wickets within a space of two balls without adding any run to their total.

On the first ball of his next over, Simranjeet had Khushdil Shah caught by Waseem as Pakistan were reduced to 93/6 from 70/2.

After that Pakistan kept on losing at regular intervals. Junaid returned to pick up the wickets of Mohammad Haris and  Mohamamd Nawaz. He rattled the stumps of Mohammad Haris before Mohammad Nawaz before Waseem took a stunner to get rid of Mohammad Nawaz as Junaid completed his four-wicket haul.

At one stage, Pakistan were facing the danger of getting under the score of 120, but Shaheen Afridi’s late blitz propelled the score past 140. Shaheen has become a rescue man for Pakistan. He blasted a 14-ball 29 with the help of two sixes and three fours.