SHARJAH: Ace spinner Rashid Khan became the highest wicket-taker in Twenty20 Internationals as he helped Afghanistan beat United Arab Emirates by 38 runs in Sharjah on Monday.

The wily 26-year-old took 3-21 — reaching 165 wickets in his 98th T20I — to derail UAE from 90-2 to 150-8 in 20 overs after setting them 189 to win in the tri-series match.

Afghanistan’s total of 188-4 was built around a brilliant 40-ball 63 from Ibrahim Zadran and a 40-ball 54 by Sediqullah Atal as they came back after losing to Pakistan in their first game.

UAE captain Muhammad Waseem scared Afghanistan with a rapid-fire 37-ball 67, comprising six maximums and four boundaries in his 23rd T20I half-century.

But Waseem’s departure sparked a collapse as Rashid dismissed Ethan D’Souza (12), Asif Khan (one) and Dhruv Parashar (one) to overhaul New Zealand pacer Tim Southee’s T20I record of 164 wickets in 126 games.

Afghanistan owed their total to Zadran and Atal as they added 84 for the second wicket after being put in to bat.

Atal’s maiden T20I fifty had four boundaries and three sixes, while Zadran kno­cked four sixes and three hits to the rope.

Karim Janat hit two sixes and as many boundaries in his 10-ball 23 not out while Azmatullah Omarzai’s undefeated 12-ball 20 contained two sixes.

Muhammad Rohid and Saghir Khan grabbed two wickets apiece for UAE.

Pakistan, who won both their matches in the tri-series, face Afghanistan on Tuesday.

SCOREBOARD

AFGHANISTAN:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Chopra b Rohid 7

Sediqullah Atal c Chopra b Saghir 54

Ibrahim Zadran c Junaid b Saghir 63

Darwish Rasooli c D’Souza b Rohid 10

Azmatullah Omarzai not out 20

Karim Janat not out 23

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-9) 11

TOTAL (for four wickets, 20 overs) 188

DID NOT BAT: Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Gurbaz), 2-100 (Atal), 3-120 (Rasooli), 4-160 (Zadran)

BOWLING: Junaid 4-0-34-0 (1w), Rohid 4-0-34-2 (4w), Haider 4-0-28-0, Saghir 4-0-52-2 (4w), Parashar 3-0-30-0, Kaushik 1-0-8-0

UAE:

Mohammad Zohaib c Zadran b Farooqi 7

Mohammad Waseem c Mujeeb b Sharafuddin 67

E. D’Souza lbw b Rashid 12

R. Chopra not out 52

Asif Khan b Rashid 1

H. Kaushik c sub b Nabi 4

D. Parashar c sub b Rashid 1

Saghir Khan c Omarzai b Sharafuddin 0

Haider Ali c Nabi b Sharafuddin 2

Junaid Siddique not out 1

EXTRAS (W-3) 3

TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 150

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Rohid

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15 (Zohaib), 2-76 (D’Souza), 3-90 (Waseem), 4-91 (Asif), 5-107 (Kaushik), 6-111 (Parashar), 7-112 (Saghir), 8-122 (Haider)

BOWLING: Mujeeb-ur-Rahman 4-0-36-0, Farooqi 3-0-24-1, Sharafuddin 4-0-24-3, Omarzai 3-0-36-0 (1w), Rashid 4-0-21-3 (1w), Nabi 2-0-9-1 (1w)

RESULT: Afghanistan won by 38 runs.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2025