NEW DELHI: The United Arab Emir­ates (UAE) face Afghanistan in a Group ‘D’ clash of the T20 World Cup at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.

The UAE will look to plug their middle-order frailties, particularly against spin, a strong area of the Rashid Khan-led team.

The two sides head into the contest after contrasting results in their previous outings. The UAE scraped past Canada to register their first win, while Afghanistan suffered a heartbreaking defeat despite pushing their last game into two Super Overs in one of the greatest T20 matches.

With South Africa and New Zealand occupying the top two spots in the group with six and four points respectively, UAE’s qualification hopes hinge on a combination of victories and favourable results elsewhere.

UAE’s batting will face a sterner test against Afghanistan’s formidable spin trio of Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi.

Afghanistan, meanwhile, are desperate to open their account after coming agonisingly close against South Africa. They not only need to win their remaining matches convincingly but also rely on other outcomes to stay in contention.

Rashid said his side were unlucky to be staring at an early exit from the T20 World Cup and stressed the need for smaller nations to play regularly against top teams to make major tournaments more competitive.

“I don’t think much has gone wrong. We played good cricket and were a little unlucky. You saw the last match, we were very close, we were in the second super over. I think it shows that we put in the effort,” Rashid told reporters.

“You have seen all the games one-sided. I think that’s something which, as a team, if you don’t get a chance to play against a big team, that’s what happens.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2026