 "Pakistan set up virtual Asia Cup semifinal against arch-rivals India with big win over UAE")
Dubai: Pakistan made short work of an inexperienced UAE batting unit by winning their last group league game by 41 runs on Wednesday, to set up a much-anticipated Super 4s grudge match against India in the Asia Cup.
The match started an hour late as Pakistan threatened a pull-out after the handshake fiasco during the previous game against India, before Salman Agha’s team climbed down and showed up for the game.
It was Shaheen Shah Afridi, who first blasted an unbeaten 29 off 14 balls to prop up what still otherwise looked a modest total of 146 for 9.
For Associate Nations, any score above 130 against Test-playing countries becomes a tall order as the bowling quality vastly improves, and the UAE could finally manage only 105 in 17.4 overs.
Afridi (2/16) was too hot to handle for Alishan Sharafu (12), who was played on. UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem (14) was dismissed while trying to fetch a widish leg-break from Abrar Ahmed (2/13 in 4 overs), himself moving towards leg-stump, resulting in a brilliant running catch by Mohammed Nawaz.
Saim Ayub (1/18 in 4 overs), who has more wickets than runs in this tournament so far, then bowled Muhammad Zohaib with a straight fast delivery that kept a tad low.
Rahul Chopra (35 off 35 balls) tried his bit, but he could never get the big shots going, even as the asking rate soared.
UAE never looked like being in contention despite an impressive bowling effort for the better part of the match.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHaving opted to bowl, pacer Junaid Siddique and Ludhiana-born left-arm spinner Simranjeet Singh were exceptional in their execution but Pakistan’s late-order surge got them to a fighting 146 for nine in a do-or-die last group league clash.
Simranjeet (3/26 in 4 overs) and Junaid (4/18) shared the bulk of the spoils in one of UAE’s best bowling efforts in recent times against a Test-playing nation.
Once again, Pakistan’s top-order, save senior-pro Fakhar Zaman (50 off 36 balls), failed, and it was Mohammed Haris (18) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (29 no off 14 balls), whose use of the long-handle to good effect got them to a fighting score.
At the start, Junaid dismissed Saim Ayub for his second successive duck while Sahibzada Farhan’s (5) pick-up shot went all awry.
In the middle overs, the ball was stopping and coming onto the batters as Simranjeet’s deliveries gripped and bounced. One such delivery got rid of Fakhar as he tried to check the drive.
Mohammed Nawaz was out to an arm ball as Simranjeet celebrated with a ‘Siddhu Moosewala’ thigh slap.
However, towards the end, it was Shaheen who hit some telling blows as the total reached closer to 150, which later proved insurmountable for the UAE.
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