Zaman, Abrar plot Pakistan's comfortable win

A Fakhar Zaman special (77* off 44) and a match-defining spell of 4 for 9 by Abrar Ahmed saw Pakistan comfortably defeat hosts UAE in the tri-series in Sharjah. The win has ensured that Pakistan and Afghanistan will lock horns in the final on Sunday (September 7).

Having elected to bat first, Sahibzada Farhan got the innings going with two boundaries. He added a six as well over long-off but his good start was cut short after he failed to dispatch an innocuous delivery over deep square-leg. Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha fell cheaply in the PowerPlay but Zaman began to show his potency with a couple of shots to the fence.

The same script followed after the PowerPlay as Mohammad Haris fell after getting a good start as the UAE kept Pakistan on a leash. Hasan Nawaz was the fifth batter to go as the visitors were suddenly 81/5 in 12 overs. Zaman finally found an able partner in Mohammad Nawaz, and the duo registered an unbeaten 91-run stand. They pouched 11 and 10 runs of the 16th and 17th over with each batter clearing the ropes once. Zaman moved to 50 with back-to-back boundaries.

But it was the last two overs which yielded 42 runs that turned the game on its head. Mohammad Nawaz hit a hat-trick of boundaries and topped it off with a six in the 19th over before Zaman hit five boundaries in a row as Pakistan had ended at 171 for 5.

In reply, UAE began steadily with Alishan Sharafu and Muhammad Waseem seeing out the PowerPlay unbeaten to take them to 41 for 0. Abrar struck immediately after the first six as Waseem edged a delivery to point. The wicket reduced the scoring rate and UAE scored only 17 runs from the 7th to the 10th over.

Sharafu cleared the ropes consecutively but the 11th over ended with Ethan D'Souza holing out to deep square-leg as the pressure continued to build on UAE. Abrar struck twice in his third over as UAE continued to struggle. Sharafu smashed consecutive sixes again in the 14th over to keep UAE afloat, with the batter also moving past 50. Abrar ended his spell with a fourth wicket off his last ball of Harshit Kaushik as the UAE middle-order collapsed from 72/1 to 102/5. Shaheen Afridi got the all important wicket of Sharafu, with 59 still to get from three overs.

Dhruv Parashar and Haider Ali found the fence with some lusty blows towards the end but it wasn't enough as the hosts fell short by 31 runs.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 171/5 in 20 overs (Fakhar Zaman 77*, Mohammad Nawaz 37*; Haider Ali 2-17, Muhammad Rohid Khan 1-21) beat UAE 140/7 in 20 overs (Alishan Sharafu 68, Muhammad Waseem 19; Abrar Ahmed 4-9, Shaheen Afridi 1-23) by 31 runs