Najibullah Zadran made the UAE pay for a dropped catch as his half century saw Afghanistan seal the T20I series courtesy of a five-wicket victory on Friday.
Defending a competitive 179 at Dubai International Stadium, the hosts were in command with the Afghans at 122-5, still needing 58 from five overs to win.
The UAE should have got their sixth scalp in Mohammed Shahzad’s fourth delivery of the 15th over but Zadran was lucky to still be at the crease after being dropped when on eight. The batsman then punished the UAE bowlers, finding the boundary five times as well as three sixes.
His 67-run partnership with Mohammed Nabi (13no) eventually proved to be decisive as the tourists reached their target with two balls to spare. Despite the result, head coach Owais Shah will be encouraged by what he saw especially after Shaiman Anwar’s half-century.
The 37-year-old rediscovered his form with the bat, top-scoring with 60 as he and Rameez Shahzad’s unbeaten 47, helped the UAE reach 179-4 in their 20 overs. For Anwar, it was his first fifty in nine matches since his 63-run knock in the seven-wicket defeat to Scotland back in August, but he was left with mixed emotions.
“It was good to score a half-century today but it would’ve been better if we had won the match, so I’m a bit disappointed,” he said.
“I got a 34 in the first match and now a 60, so I hope to score big runs.”
UAE 179-4, 20 over (Shaiman Anwar 60, Rameez Shahzad 47, Fareed Ahmad 2-39) lost to Afghanistan 183-5, 19.4 overs (Najibullah Zadran 55, Mohammad Shahzad 31, Amjad Javed 3-40) by five wickets
