AI Simulation, UAE vs PAK | Pakistan bounce back with clinical take down of UAE to secure berth in finale

Pitch and Weather

Sharjah tested the players' stamina significantly on Thursday with a lethal comibination of high temperatures and extreme humidity, further exacerbated by the lack of a breeze. The deck appeared equally sapped out of energy, offering low bounce and heavily favouring spinners as well as seamers capable of taking pace off the delivery.

Toss

Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first.

Lineups

Pakistan XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Salman Mirza, Sufiyan Muqeem

UAE XI: Muhammad Zohaib, Muhammad Waseem (c), Ethan D’Souza, Rahul Chopra (wk), Asif Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Dhruv Parashar, Saghir Khan, Haider Ali, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Rohid

Match Report

Opting to set a target, Pakistan walked out with intent as Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub set the stage alight with a maximum each in the first two overs. The two had blazed away to 52/0 by the time the powerplay ended, with the former doing most of the destruction at the expense of Muhammad Rohid. It wasn't until Junaid Siddique and Haider Ali struck in quick succession that the momentum died down as Fakhar Zaman and Salman Agha Ali focused on rebuilding the innings through quick running between the wickets. Once they had taken the team past the 12-over mark safely with the score 97/2, a brief burst of aggression followed but barely lasted before Fakhar and Salman fell for 33(27) and 27(20) respectively. The stage was set for namesakes Hasan and Mohammad Nawaz to take Pakistan past 180 but a brilliant final spell by Saghir Khan deftly removed both as the innings fizzled out at 164/6.

In response, Muhammad Waseem mirrored the opposition's fiery start with some lusty blows of his own, teeing off two maximums and three boundaries in the powerplay to race past 30 while Muhammad Zohaib played second fiddle at the other end. However, once the field spread, the run-rate died down drastically, culminating in Waseem skying a Faheem Ashraf slower one in the eight over to depart for 42 with the team score on 63. Zohaib followed suit the next over and the path was paved for left-arm wrist-spinner Sufiyan Muqeem to take over the game with two new batsmen at the crease. His first over brought Alishan Sharafu's scalp, the second saw Rahul Chopra beaten all hands up by a well-disguised googly, but the 25-year-old had saved his best for last. Muqeem pitched the ball around Asif Khan's leg, drawing the batter forward with flight before viciously turning the Kookaburra past the outside edge to kiss the top of off-stump and end his 20-ball stay of 28. There was no recovering for the hosts thereafter as wickets kept tumbling and the innings eventually ended at 141/8, a significant 23 runs short of their rival's total.

Player of the Match

Sufiyan Muqeem was named the man of the match for breaking UAE's back with three scalps in quick succession in the middle-overs, thus decisively strangling what had been a positive start to the chase.

Scorecard