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Opener Muhammad Waseem's fiery 50-ball 91 helped United Arab Emirates (UAE) beat Afghanistan in a T20I encounter after a massive gap of seven years. In the second T20I of the three-T20I series played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE beat Afghanistan by nine wickets with 10 balls to spare.
Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan won the toss and opted to bat first. Hard-hitter Hazratullah Zazai was kept quiet by UAE bowlers in the powerlay overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a few boundaries but fell to Junaid Siddique in the third over. Zahoor Khan then got the wicket of Ibrahim Zadran (1) for a single-digit score. Afghanistan scored just 34 runs in the powerplay overs.
Opener Hazratullah's knock came to an end in the 11th over as Zawar Farid trapped him in front of stumps. The southpaw scored 27 runs from 29 deliveries. In Afrid's next over, wicketkeeper-batter Afsar Zazai became his second victim. Asar scored 18 runs from 29 deliveries. Najibullah provided some acceleration while Karim Janat (7), Azmatullah (12) could not score big.
Najibullah remained unbeaten for 29-ball 37. Skipper Rashid Khan came to the rescue as well and scored 14 runs off just seven deliveries to help Afghanistan post 137/6.
In the run chase, Waseem made full use of the powerplay overs. He smashed spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman for 22 runs in the fourth over including three sixes. He got to his half-century in the sixth over. After powerplay overs, UAE had 68 runs on the board including 60 of Waseem's bat.
Waseem's onslaught continued whereas Vriitya Aravind did not mind playing dot balls. Skipper Rashid introduced himself into the attack and did not let Waseem score a single boundary off his bowling. In the 14th over, Janat managed to break the opening partnership. Waseem’s 91-run knock was studded with eight fours and seven sixes.
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Waseem’s wicket turned out to be a consolation for Afghanistan. Chundangapoyil Rizwan joined Ravind in the middle. The flow of runs slowed down but it was not enough to stop UAE from getting over the line. Aravind scored the winning run in the penultimate over. The opener remained unbeaten for 38 off 46 deliveries including two fours. On the other end, Rizwan scored nine runs off 14 deliveries.
Earlier, in the first encounter Afghanistan beat UAE by five wickets. The two sides will take on each other in the series decider on February 19 at the same venue.
