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United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) batting display in their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign opener can be summed up by their youngest player’s embarrassing fall on the boundary ropes after getting dismissed in the first innings. 16-year-old Aayan Afzal Khan did not pay attention to the boundary rope cushion and awkwardly fell on the ground.
The teenager did not get injured by the fall as he got up and walked towards the dugout. The video has gone viral on Twitter.
In the second innings, the off-spinner bowled as well and took one wicket from three overs he bowled and conceded 15 runs.
With the bat, he scored just five runs from seven deliveries. UAE managed to post a below par total of 111/8 after Chandangapoyil Rizwan won the toss and opted to bat first. UAE batters went for big shots instead of using the big boundaries and wet outfield to covert ones into twos.
The youngster’s first T20I wicket was South Africa-born Colin Ackermann in the 12th over of Netherlands' run chase. The game turned out to be a nail-biter. The Dutch won the game by three wickets with one ball to spare.
Aayan has played three T20Is so far and picked up four wickets. His best bowling figures are 2/33 against Bangladesh.
He broke former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir's record. Amir played his first T20 World Cup appearance in 2009 edition of the tournament. The left-arm pacer was 17 years and 55 days old. Aayan, on the other hand, is 16 years and 335 days old.
After a narrow loss to Netherlands, UAE will take on Sri Lanka at Simonds Stadium, Geelong on October 18. Sri Lanka were stunned on the opening day by Namibia who beat them by a huge margin of 55 runs. It will be a must-win game for UAE against a wounded Sri Lankan side that recently won T20 Asia Cup 2022.
