UAE vs PAK | Fakhar fireworks and Abrar artistry trump UAE to book Pakistan's spot in tri-series finale

‌Opting to bat first, Sahibzada Farhan set the tone for Pakistan early with two boundaries in the first over. Saim Ayub joined a party by dispatching Dhruv Parashar's first ball for a maximum in his third over and Farhan replicated the effort three deliveries later but the spinner had the final luagh laugh when the opener holed out the very next ball. Saim nicked off soon after against Junaid Siddique before Muhammad Rohid bowled a peach to take Salman Agha Ali's outside edge, and leave the visitors on 50/3 at the end of the six. Nevertheless, Mohammad Haris and Fakhar Zaman refused to stay quiet, the latter having already smashed two maximums in the powerplay while Haris fetched a four and six in the two overs after field restrictions were lifted. Howeverm the pressure kept building through dots, and Haris finally buckled to Haider Ali with a misjudged sweep shot at exactly the halfway stage, with the score 74/4. The UAE pacer also added Hasan Nawaz to his tally in the next over, earmarking a five-over period for the hosts where they only conceded 23 runs. The onus was on Fakhar to bail the Men in Green out of trouble and the veteran went to work with a six each in the 16th and 17th over. Back-to-back fours thereafter brought up a 34-ball half-century but the visitors had saved their best for last. Nawaz exploded into life in the penultimate over, dispatching Siddique for 18 runs in his final four balls to end on 37 off 27, before Fakhar capped off the innings with consecutive boundaries. The partnership was thus eventually worth 91 off just 51 deliveries, 42 of which came in the final two overs alone, thereby setting the UAE an imposing target of 172.

In response, UAE kickstarted the chase cautiously, managing just 30 in the first five overs despite a couple of boundaries from Alishan Sharafu and a maximum from Muhammad Waseem. Waseem tried to clinch a final opportunity to exploit the powerplay with two more boundaries in the final over of field restrictions, taking the score to 41/0 but only paving the way for Abrar Ahmed to take over the game. The mystery spinner began with a well guised carrom ball to get rid of the skipper for a run-a-ball 19, thus ushering a four over phase until the halfway mark worth a paltry 17 runs. Sharafu tried to release some pressure with consecutive sixes of Nawaz thereafter but the spinner struck back the same over with Ethan D'Souza's wicket to leave UAE reeling at 72/2 after 1. By the time Abrar came on to bowl his final two overs, the required run-rate had skyrocketed past 11 and any reamining hopes ended in the next five bowls. Abrar first beat Asif Khan with the flight to have him caught at the boundary, before trapping Rahul Chopra in front to reduce them to 84/4. Sharafu kept fighting with two sixes of Saim Ayub in the next over, but Abrar further dented his spirit by scalping Harshit Kaushik the next over to end with 4/9 from his four overs. The result was practically sealed on the final ball of the 17th over when Sharafu fell victim to a Shaheen Afridi cutter, as the side eventually finished 31 short of their rivals' total.