Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal each scored a half-century as Pakistan survived an early innings jitters to beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by seven wickets in the Asia Cup match played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka on Monday. Set a modest target after their bowlers had restricted the UAE to 129-6, Pakistan lost three wickets in 17 runs before Malik and Akmal saw them home with solid batting.
Malik made 63 off 49 balls while Akmal added 50 off 46 balls as the pair added 114 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket partnership to steer Pakistan to 131-3 with eight balls to spare. UAE captain Amjad Javed took all three Pakistan wickets as he trapped Sharjeel Khan leg-before for four before inducing an edge from Khurram Manzoor's bat for a duck in his first over.
Pakistan were in danger when Mohammad Hafeez gave a catch to Fahad Tariq at cover for 11 in Javed's next over. But Malik and Akmal staved off a further collapse with some cautious batting mixed with calculated aggression. "We all know the first six overs have been crucial. If you survive, then you can play shots and that is what we did," said man-of-the-match Malik, who hit seven fours and three sixes. "We lost early wickets but then we decided to forget about the run rate and focus on playing out the first six overs.
Shaiman Anwar made 46 off 42 balls for the UAE after the minnows suffered a similar collapse at the start of their innings. Pakistan's pace bowling trio of Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Sami and Mohammad Irfan each claimed a wicket apiece in their respective first spell to leave the UAE struggling with 12-3.
Anwar and Usman Mushtaq offered some resistance before Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi removed Mushtaq for nine. Anwar then launched a counter attack, first hitting debutant Mohammad Nawaz for a six and a four and then dispatching three successive deliveries of Afridi for fours. Irfan dismissed Anwar to finish with 2-30. Aamir finished with 2-6 after he bowled Mohammad Usman out for 21.
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Scoreboard
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UAE
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R. Mustafa c Afridi b Sami 1
M. Kaleem b Amir 1
M. Shahzad c Sarfraz b Irfan 5
S. Anwar c Sarfraz b Irfan 46
U. Mushtaq c Nawaz b Afridi 9
M. Usman b Amir 21
A. Javed not out 27
M. Naveed not out 10
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Extras: (lb 2 w7) 9
Total: (6 wkts; 20 overs) 129
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Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Rohan) 2-5 (Kaleem), 3-12 (Shahzad), 4-41 (Mushtaq), 5-72 (Shaiman), 6-118 (Usman)
Did not bat: Swapnil Patil, Fahad Tariq, Ahmed Raza
Bowling: Amir 4-1-6-2, Sami 4-0-28-1 (w2), Irfan 4-0-30-2 (w1), Afridi 4-0-24-1 (w3), Nawaz 3-0-26-0 (w1), Malik 1-0-13-0
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Pakistan
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M. Hafeez c Fahad b Amjad 11
S. Khan lbw b Amjad 4
K. Manzoor c Patil b Amjad 0
Umar Akmal not out 50
Shoaib Malik not out 63
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Extras: (w3) 3
Total: (3 wkts; 18.4 overs) 131
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Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Sharjeel) 2-11 (Khurram), 3-17 (Hafeez)
Did not bat: Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan
Bowling: Naveed 3.4-0-28-0 (w1), Amjad 4-0-36-3(w2) Shahzad 4-0-19-0, Raza 3-0-20-0, Rohan 3-0-20-0, Fahad 1-0-8-0
Result: Pakistan won by seven wickets
Toss: UAE
Umpires: Enamul Haque (BAN) and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI)
TV umpire: Anil Chaudhary (IND)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ).
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