AFG vs UAE Today's Match Expert Fantasy Tips & Player Stats, Afghanistan tour of United Arab Emirates 2023

2nd T20I • Sheikh Zayed Stadium • Abu Dhabi

Afghanistan

137/6 (20)

United Arab Emirates

138/1 (18.2)

UAE won by 9 wickets

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Playing XI

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Fantasy Top Picks

Expert Team 1

K Janat

C Rizwan

Expert Team 2

R Mustafa

W Muhammad

Venue Details

Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Team Comparison (Last 10 Matches)

Matches Played

Matches Won

Average Score

Highest Score

Lowest Score

1 1 1 0 1 1

Over 16

Runs: 5

1 0 0 0 4 1

Over 17

Runs: 6

0 1 0 2 1 0

Over 18

Runs: 4

0 4

Over 19

Runs: 4

All Overs

Player of the Match Waseem Muhammad

91(50)

Commentary

That'll be all for this contest but the decider is set to unfold at the same time and at the same venue tomorrow. Do join us to find out who among UAE and Afghanistan will pocket this 3-match series while keeping yourselves up to date with all the other cricketing news and action from around the globe. If you're in the mood for more cricket, do switch tabs and head over here to follow our coverage of the Women's T20 World Cup clash between South Africa and Australia. For the moment, this is the duo of Arya Sekhar Chakraborty and Sooryanarayanan Sesha taking your leave and thanking you for joining us. See you tomorrow - take care and good night!

It was quite a sight to behold today and if Muhammad Waseem is to roll out something similar tomorrow, the UAE could be well on course for a historic series victory. This is an extremely talented bunch and performances like these are vital in order to boost their own confidence and show the world that they are the real deal. As for Afghanistan, it's about keeping this game aside and moving onto the decider without fretting over what went wrong. They have played enough T20 cricket to understand how fickle this format is and they will do well to turn things around tomorrow.

Unsurprisingly, Muhammad Waseem is the Player of the Match for his scintillating 50-ball 91. Here's what he has to say: First of all, I'm thankful to the Almighty. I wasn't able to score much for the team the other day and I'm glad I could do it today. The pitch was slow in the first game and our aim was to try and take it deep and cover up later. It didn't work out. I hope to keep performing well like today. My aim was to try and win it as early as possible and put them under pressure ahead of the next game.

CP Rizwan (UAE captain): I would like to thank the Almighty for making this possible. It was a great win for us, especially when we were stressing the importance of belief that we can beat the top nations. They bowled well that day too in patches. It was about doing it consistently over a period of time. Very happy with both the bowling and the batting. There are areas to improve upon and we will look to do that. Credit to Muhammad Waseem for the way he started. A 100-run partnership for the opening wicket is good any day. Very happy for him (Vriitya) also. It's important to play the supporting role and he did that very well today.

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan captain): Yes the score was below par. The way we started even in the last game. The first six overs, we have to improve that. Definitely, 160-170 was a good total. Waseem played a remarkable innings. If you are defending 130 odd and someone scores 90 then it is always going to be one-sided contest. It is more about the line and length, we missed our lengths today. I feel like they bowled consistently in one line and we missed that. We don’t need to think about much, keeping it simple and we will get the results but we lacked that today. We know the final is always great. It’s good for the fans. It’s gonna be a good game and try not to repeat the mistakes we committed in the first two games.

Vriitya Aravind: Yeah I think it's a great effort from the team to restrict them to 138. Waseem made my life easier. I could take my time, I wasn’t timing the ball and Waseem helped me find that rhythm. Eventually, I could see the side through in the end. Yeah, we saw the last game as well, that was a good confidence boost for us. We came out all guns blazing today and hopefully, we can repeat that tomorrow or even go a notch higher.

Match summary: UAE beat Afghanistan by 9 wickets to level the series 1-1 with a game to go.

Muhammad Waseem 91 (50) | Zahoor Khan 2/25 (4)
Najibullah Zadran 37* (29) | Karim Janat 1/13 (2)

Talk about having to bounce back with the series on the line and the UAE have done it with an air of professionalism. Their bowlers led the way to restrict the Afghans to a modest 137. And once Muhammad Waseem tore into the bowlers in the powerplay, the contest was shut for good even before it began.

Waseem batted like a man possessed today. He took a particular liking to Mujeeb Ur Rahman and carted him all around the park in an exhibition of power-hitting. With the UAE 50 raised in just four overs, there was just no way back for the visitors. Waseem rocketed his way to a 22-ball half-century and it was just a sheer sight for sore eyes if you were a fan of belligerent hitting.

At the other end, Vriitya Aravind enjoyed this carnage from the best seat in the house, although he wasn't able to get the best flow into his innings. He managed to stay until the end and get the job done though, even unleashing a couple of delectable shots that breathed deft touch and class. Even otherwise, it was the Waseem show all the way as he notched up his highest T20I score with his 91 runs dominating the opening stand of 119. Alas for him, he wasn't able to time one well enough to clear the fielder at mid-off, falling short of a well-deserved century.

Things slowed up thereafter but the job was already done well in advance. It was just a case of the formalities ensuing thereafter as Vriitya and captain CP Rizwan saw the team home. One thing that Afghan skipper Rashid Khan could have explored was bringing himself on in the powerplay in a quest for wickets. That wasn't to be, however, and notwithstanding the lack of enough runs to play with, he will possibly look back and wonder if he could have rolled the dice a lot earlier than he actually did. Stick around as we hear from the two captains shortly...

He sure can! As easy as you like and the hosts have stormed back in grand style to square the series and take it to a decider. What a fantastic performance this has been - UAE win by 9 wickets with 10 deliveries to spare!

18.2 Azmatullah Omarzai to Vriitya Aravind, FOUR! Vriitya Aravind fittingly hits the winning runs. Back of a length delivery a shade outside off, punched on the up and the aerial shot comfortably clears the cover felder in the circle. Game set and match. What an effort from UAE.

Can he finish it off soon?

18.1 Azmatullah Omarzai to Vriitya Aravind, on a fullish-length outside off, Vriitya tries to carve it away past point, gets beaten.

Azmatullah Omarzai [3.0-0-30-0] is back into the attack.

Quite a delectable shot off that penultimate delivery with Vriitya crouching low and using his bottom hand to good effect. Perhaps he seemed to think it was headed for the fence and therefore decided against running back for the second. The scores are level and UAE require a lone run to win!

overs

137 /1 score

runs

CP Rizwan *

9 (14)

Vritiya Aravind

37 (44)

Mujeeb Ur Rahman

0 /40

17.6 Mujeeb Ur Rahman to CP Rizwan, Rizwan rocks back and works away the length delivery on middle towards the midwicket region, finds the fielder.

17.5 Mujeeb Ur Rahman to Vriitya Aravind, length delivery on the pads, a flick of the wrist, up and over backward of square but didn't quite time that well. He was admiring his own shot and only manages to take a single. A couple was there on offer.

2 runs to win now...

17.4 Mujeeb Ur Rahman to Vriitya Aravind, Vriitya makes some room and chips this length delivery over the cover region and returns for a brace.

17.3 Mujeeb Ur Rahman to Vriitya Aravind, Vriitya gave himself a little bit of room but only manages to thrash that length delivery on middle straight to the mid-off fielder.

17.2 Mujeeb Ur Rahman to CP Rizwan, flatter this time angling into Rizwan, he stays on the backfoot and turns the strike over by punching it down towards silly mid-on for a single.

17.1 Mujeeb Ur Rahman to CP Rizwan, fuller-length on the middle stump, worked away back to the bowler by Rizwan.