UAE vs AFG | Naveen-ul-Haq Stars As Afghanistan Seal Series In Low-scoring Decider
Afghanistan won by 4 wickets. [PC: X]
Brief Score: - Afghanistan 128/6 (18.3 Overs), Hazratullah Zazai 36 (32), Najibullah Zadran 28 (13); Junaid Siddique 2/32 (3,3), Dhruv Parashar 1/14 (3) beat UAE - 126/9 (20 Overs), Muhammad Waseem 27 (25), Ali Naseer 21 (22); Naveen-ul-Haq 4/20 (4), Qais Ahmed 3/24 (4) by 4 wickets.
Riding on the back of Naveen-ul-Haq’s 4-fer with the ball and Najibullah Zadran’s late heroics with the bat, Afghanistan defeated UAE in the third T20I. It was a pretty close game at the end but the visitors held their nerves to seal the three-match series by 2-1.
Naveen-ul-Haq Wrecks UAE with 4-fer
Earlier, after electing to bat first, UAE could only manage 126 for the loss of 9 wickets in their 20 overs quota. They got off to a disastrous start, losing four of their top five batters inside the powerplay. Naveen-ul-Haq did the major damage as he took 3 wickets in his opening two-over spell
Skipper Muhammad Waseem, who generally starts aggressively, had to do the reconstruction job, but soon lost his wicket while trying to up the scoring rate. Leggie Qais Ahmed got the most out of the spinning conditions and claimed three crucial wickets in the middle overs to further derail UAE’s batting.
The hosts were falling like a pack of cards and even the 100-run mark was looking too far at one point of time. However, some late contribution from Ali Naseer and the rest of the lower order batters took UAE past the century run mark and eventually managed to put a respectable total on the board.
Ace pacer Naveen-ul-Haq came back into the attack at the end and took another wicket to finish with a figure of 4 for 20. He was easily the pick of the bowlers for the visitors on a surface that kept constantly low and assisted the spinners later on.
Najibullah late assault took Afghanistan across the line
Chasing 127, Afghanistan got off to a good start but soon lost the in-form Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the third over. The star keeper-batter came all guns blazing before finding one straight to the fielder at deep point.
Hazratullah Zazai was then joined by skipper Ibrahim Zadran, and the duo ensured Afghanistan did not lose any further wicket in the powerplay, managing 47 for one at the end of sixth over on the board. The visitors were very much in control but UAE started to put brakes on the run-flow.
Aayan Khan and UAE’s hero from the last game, Ali Naseer kept it tight following the powerplay. Both Ibrahim and Hazratullah were struggling to keep the scoreboard ticking and the asking rate kept on increasing.
As a result, both the set batters fell after the halfway mark while trying to up the run-rate and out of nowhere, UAE regained momentum. Afghanistan were pushed further behind after Jawadullah removed Nabi cheaply and the equation came down to 24 needed in the last three overs.
Najibullah Zadran was the last recognized batter left and the southpaw rose to the occasion, wasting no time to counterattack, putting the pressure back on UAE. Eventually, despite some incredible effort to turn the game around from UAE, Najibullah took Afghanistan home with two consecutive sixes in the penultimate over.
 "Kaushik Kashyap")
