SHARJAH – Pakistan beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 31 runs in the fifth match of the T20I Tri-Series at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Chasing a 172-run target for victory, the UAE reached 140/7 in the allocated 20 overs.
Alishan Sharafu was the highest scorer for the UAE with 68 runs. UAE captain Mohammad Waseem contributed 19, Dhruv Parashar an unbeaten 18, and Haider Ali 12 runs. The UAE fell well short of the target as no other batter could enter double figures.
Player of the match, Abrar Ahmed, bagged four wickets after conceding only nine runs in his quota of four overs. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Nawaz got one wicket each. Haider Ali was run out.
Opting to bat first, Pakistan reached 171/5 despite losing five wickets in 11.3 overs with just 80 runs on the board. Experienced Fakhar Zaman (77 not out) and Mohammad Nawaz (37 not out) stitched a 91-run partnership for the sixth wicket to put Pakistan back on track.
Taking advantage of poor bowling and fielding efforts, the set batters plundered 74 runs in the last five overs to enable Pakistan to set a competitive 172-run target for the UAE.
Sahibzada Farhan scored 16 runs, Mohammad Haris 14, and Saim Ayub 11 runs. Haider Ali took two wickets while Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Rohid and Dhruv Prashar got one wicket each.
Pakistan Playing XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hasan Nawaz, Muhammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Salman Mirza, Abrar Ahmed
UAE Playing XI: Muhammad Waseem (c), Asif Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Rahul Chopra (wk), Ethan D’Souza, Harshit Kaushik, Shruv Parashar, Haider Ali, Muhammad Jawad, Muhammad Rohid, Junaid Siddique
