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Pakistan's Shaheen Shah Afridi plays a shot during the Asia Cup cricket match between Pakistan and United Arab Emirates at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
The incidents that unfolded on the pitch were not as dramatic as the events that preceded them. But putting aside the distractions, which reduced the match to a side-show, Pakistan produced an efficient performance to beat UAE, which they accomplished by 41 runs, and ensured their qualification to the Super Four.
Even though dew impeded Pakistan’s bowlers, resulting in the ball slipping out of their hands repeatedly, UAE’s batsmen did not possess the nerves or the muscle to mount a serious challenge. Shaheen Afridi’s pace, Haris Rauf’s hard lengths, and Abrar’s guiles were difficult for UAE’s batsmen to comprehend. Not to discount their exuberant fielding. At one stage, they were 85 for 3 in 13.5 overs, but it seemed they were only a gentle nudge away from falling off the cliff. So they did. There, though, are buzzing concerns before their fixture against India on Sunday.
The more Pakistan looks to change, the more they remain the same. For all the emphasis on cultural reboot, progressive batting, ousting the erstwhile pillars of the team for their supposedly sedate batting, the personnel they have turned to for change have shown little discernible progress. So much so that it required the seasons hands of Fakhar Zaman, the navy-cadet turned match-winner in the 2017 Champions Trophy final, and Shaheen Shah Afridi to post a total that allayed fears of a potential stumble in the must-win encounter against UAE. They registered 146/9, but not after enduring a stuttery start, anxious moments in the middle overs and aided to a lesser extent by Afridi’s lower-order fireworks.
𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴 🔥
𝗨𝗔𝗘 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱! 👊
Watch #PAKvUAE LIVE NOW, on the Sony Sports Network TV channels & Sony LIV.#SonySportsNetwork #DPWorldAsiaCup2025 pic.twitter.com/3xVG5tHprD
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) September 17, 2025
Remove Zaman’s 36-ball 50 and Afridi’s 14-ball 29, the innings falls apart, and Pakistan’s total of 146/9 would have been a distant prospect. It does not help that four of the top six failed to register double figures, some perishing hideously. Saim Ayub, touted the next big batting star of his country, his strokes even begetting comparisons with AB de Villiers, lasted only two balls, slashing a wide ball straight to deep third man. It was his third duck in as many outings in the tournament. His opening partner Sahibzada Farhan did worse, as he ate up 12 balls for merely five runs. Zaman and captain Salman Ali Agha were put into the unenviable shift of both stemming the fall of wickets as well as increasing the run-rate. Zaman unfurled his typical drives and cuts, temporarily feeding momentum. Agha, riding a lean patch, lived on perilously, accumulating runs through streaky edges early on in his innings.
But the 61-run stand resuscitated Pakistan on a sluggish surface and laid the foundation for a final flourish. There, they began to shoot themselves on the foot again. From 86/3, they teetered to 93/6 and then to 110/7. Zaman departed soon after completing his half-century, before Hasan Nawaz, the recalled Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Nawaz departed in quick succession, raising fears of an upset and an hostile welcome back home. Left-arm spinner Simranjeet Singh and Junaid Siddiqui were the wreckers-in-chief, with three and four wickets apiece, as Pakistan stared at a potential embarrassment.
Dhruv Parashar sends the Pakistan captain packing! 🤌
Watch #PAKvUAE LIVE now on the Sony Sports Network TV channels & Sony LIV. #SonySportsNetwork #DPWorldAsiaCup2025 pic.twitter.com/NgQS8Tg2Qm
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) September 17, 2025
The bail-out job was again thrust on the enormous shoulders of Afridi, Pakistan’s most fluid and natural hitter. He biffed a 14-ball 29 to provide the late impetus that gave Pakistan a competitive total, one their multi-utility pack of spinners could defend. UAE’s batting, for all -their fleeting glimpses of promises, is a fragile unit, and over-dependent on their top-three. But a total under 120 or thereabouts would have offered them genuine hopes of pulling off a shock win and progressing to the Super Four.
But they wilted in the storm Afridi whipped up. He slaughtered the fifth ball he faced down the ground. A stroke, in its sheer brutality, was akin to the ones Abdul Razzaq used to essay, albeit the right-handed version. He tried to pillory nearly every ball. Some he failed to connect; those that he did sailed to the fence. His second four was a full-bloodied helicopter-flick, the bottom hand whirring in the infuriating power of it. Mohammad Rohid Khan was slaughtered for a pair of successive sixes and a four to deflate UAE’s hopes of bowling their opponents for a modest total.
It’s instructive — as well as damning for the specialist batsmen — stat that Afridi has hit more sixes than his batting colleagues. Of the 15 Pakistan had struck, six owe to his sweet swings. He, unsurprisingly, has the best strike rate among them as well (206.45), and has scored more runs (64) than Ayub, Agha, Salman Nawaz and Mohammad Nawaz combined (63).
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