Afghanistan 162 for 5 (Zadran 53, Omarzai 40*, Siddique 2-23) beat UAE 160 for 9 (Sohaib 68, Sharafu 40, Omarzai 4-15) by 5 runs
Omarzai eased the nerves of a close contest – Afghanistan had tied three of their previous six T20Is in India, after all – to seal the match with 6, 4, 4 off his final three balls. He finished on a 21-ball 40*, with a strike rate of 190.47 on a day when Darwish Rasooli’s 143 was their next best. Consequently, Afghanistan’s careful approach had dragged them into the final over of their chase. Two balls into it, Omarzai’s four over covers finished it off.
Omarzai, Rasooli rescue Afghanistan’s chase
UAE’s bowlers – particularly Muhammad Arfan (2 for 39) – used the slowness of the pitch to great effect, tempering Afghanistan’s ability to hit across the line or get under the ball. Arfan removed Zadran in the 14th over, right as Afghanistan would have needed their set batter the most as the death overs approached.
With Rasooli for company at the other end, however, Omarzai stitched together a 43-run partnership off just 4.2 overs to put Afghanistan’s feet to the pedal when they needed it. Siddique returned in the 18th over to take out Rasooli’s middle stump, but signalled an appeal for calm to his teammates when celebrating. His caution was well-earned, because by the time he came back to bowl the final over, he had just four runs in the bank to defend. Two balls into the 20th, the match would be finished.
Sohaib, Sharafu stand tall for UAE
Earlier, UAE did not look like they would be able to take the match to its final over. Not when Aryansh Sharma and Muhammed Waseem had fallen in back-to-back overs at the start of their innings, leaving UAE at 13 for 2. Omarzai had started his day with the first of these overs itself: with some prodigious swing off the new ball, he had taken out Aryansh edging behind to the keeper.
Alishan Sharafu (40 off 31) and Sohaib Khan (68 off 38) orchestrated a comeback that saw them reach 55 for 2 in the powerplay. They were particularly brutal on Ziaur Rahman, who slotted into the side in place of Fazalhaa Farooqi. He went for 16 runs off his first over, and finished with unflattering figures of 0 for 43.
The two picked their bowlers throughout their 84-run partnership. They also dispatched Noor Ahmed for 35 runs off his three wicketless bowlers. By the time Sharafu fell to a miscued shot off Mujeeb Ur Rahman while dancing down the ground, UAE had recovered to the relative safety of 97 for 3 in their 12th over.
Omarzai stars with the ball, Rashid makes history
Their acceleration was hampered by a double-wicket over when Omarzai was reintroduced to the attack in the 15th over. He landed his second ball outside off and had it jag back in just enough to trim Syed Haider’s off-stump bail. Then, he went around the wicket to left-hander Harshit Kaushik and banged it in away from the batter, right in the blockhole. Kaushik reached for it to play a drive, but only edged the ball back to the keeper.
If anything, his lack of a reaction was bemusement at the entire sequence of events. What mattered in the end, though, was the wicket that closed out another tidy spell of 1 for 24 and snuffed out UAE’s momentum heading into the death overs. Just enough for Afghanistan to cross the finish line when they would come out to bat.
Afghanistan are now on two points, unlikely to make it to Super Eights unless a string of results fall their way. But in Delhi, they had done just enough to stay alive in this World Cup too.
Abhijato Sensarma is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
