SHARJAH: Pace bowler Fareed Ahmad kept cool in the last over Friday to foil Asif Khan’s aggressive hitting as a depleted Afghanistan beat United Arab Emirates by four runs in a tri-series match.

After Asif opened the final over with a four, a six and a two, Ahmad beat the bat with the next two balls. Asif needed to find the boundary off the last ball but was caught as Afghanistan held on to win at the Sharjah stadium.

Afghanistan, already sure of facing Pakistan in Saturday’s final, rested six of their main players including skipper Rashid Khan, veteran Mohammad Nabi and in-form opener Sediqullah Atal.

Afghanistan made a 170-4 before restricting UAE to 166-5 in their 20 overs.

Afghanistan’s stand-in skipper Ibrahim Zadran won the toss and batted.

With Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Zadran put on 98 for the first wicket in 12 overs.

Zadran hit 48 in a 35-ball knock that contained three sixes and as many fours.

Gurbaz smashed three fours and a six in his 38-ball innings before both the openers fell off successive deliveries.

Kariam Janat made a 14-ball 28 with three sixes and a boundary and Gulbadin Naib scored a 13-ball 20 not out as Afghanistan hit 56 runs in the last five overs.

Left-arm spinner Haider Ali was the best UAE bowler with 2-23.

For the hosts, Muhammad Waseem scored a 29-ball 44 with three sixes and two fours while Asif made a valiant 28-ball 40 with two sixes and four fours.

Scoreboard

AFGHANISTAN:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Zohaib b Farooq 40

Ibrahim Zadran b Haider 48

Mohammad Ishaq st Chopra b Singh 5

Karim Janat c Waseem b Ali 28

Gulbadin Naib not out 20

Azmatullah Omarzai not out 14

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-13) 15

TOTAL (for four wickets, 20 overs) 170

DID NOT BAT: Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fareed Ahmad, Noor Ahmad, Abdollah Ahmadzai

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-98 (Gurbaz), 2-98 (Ibrahim), 3-114 (Ishaq), 4-139 (Janat)

BOWLING: Junaid 4-0-34-0 (2w), Rohid 3-0-27-0 (2w), Haider 4-0-23-2 (1w), Singh 4-0-24-1 (3w), Farooq 3-0-36-1 (1w), Kaushik 2-0-24-0

UAE:

A. Sharafu c Gurbaz b Noor 27

M. Waseem c Ishaq b Ahmadzai 44

M. Zohaib c Zadran b Sharafuddin 23

R. Chopra c Gurbaz b Mujeeb 7

A. Khan c Gurbaz b Fareed 40

H. Kaushik not out 15

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-7) 10

TOTAL (for five wickets, 20 overs) 166

DID NOT BAT: H. Ali, M. Farooq, M. Rohid, J. Siddique, S. Singh

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-65 (Sharafu), 2-85 (Waseem), 3-106 (Zohaib), 4-113 (Chopra), 5-166 (Khan)

BOWLING: Fareed 3-0-35-1 (1w), Mujeeb 3-0-19-1 (1w), Ashraf 4-0-20-1, Omarzai 1-0-10-0, Noor 4-0-23-1 (5w), Ahmadzai 3-0-31-1, Naib 1-0-17-0

RESULT: Afghanistan won by four runs.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2025