Dubai: Noor Ali gave Afghanistan a ticket to the ICC World Twenty20 Cup in the West Indies with a fighting unbeaten 38 against the UAE in a qualifying match at the Dubai Sports City stadium on Saturday.

Opening the innings, Ali withstood the tight UAE bowling with good support from Asghar Stanikzai, who hit a quick 26 runs, to ensure a four-wicket victory with three balls to spare.

Though UAE were restricted to 100 for 9 in 20 overs their spinners bowled brilliantly to put pressure on the Afghanistan batsmen. They also fielded well but Ali and Stanikzai upsets their hopes of making it to the World Cup, despite an impressive show in the tournament.

UAE won the toss but got off to a bad start. Though opener Mohammad Iqbal began by square driving Shapoor Zadran for a boundary off the very first ball of the match, he fell for the addition of only one more run by playing Mirwais Ashraf on to his stumps.

Opener Arfan Haider too followed, caught by Hamid Hassan at third man off Zadran for 2. UAE encountered the biggest blow when their skipper Khurram Khan too returned to the pavilion quickly for just one run. Ashraf forced Khan to edge to wicketkeeper Mohammad Shehzad. Three down for 11 runs in 3.1 overs, the mantle of lifting UAE out of trouble once again fell on Saqib Ali.

Ali along with Abdul Rehman put on 42 runs for the fifth wicket before Afghanistan’s strike bowler Mohammad Nabi trapped Rehman leg before for 18. Three runs later, Nabi also trapped Ali leg before for 24.

Naeemuddin Eslam and Fayyaz Ahmed tried their best to find the gaps but Nabi clean bowled Ahmed who attempted a slog sweep for 9. Hassan, cheered by over thousands of Afghanistan supporters, yorked Shadeep Silva for 1 and UAE’s hopes of reaching even the 100-run mark faded.

Eslam tried his best to keep the score board moving. Qadar Nawaz rushed out to loft Samiullah Shenwari and got stumped.  Hasan went on to clean bowl Eslam for 18. The last wicket pair of Qasim Zubair and Ahmed Raza put on nine runs to ensure UAE a total of 100 for 9 in 20 overs.

Afghanistan was in for a shock by the strategy of the UAE team. After medium Qasim Zubair bowled the first over, they introduced left-arm spinner Silva from the other end. With the second ball he forced opener Karim Sadiq to play on to his wicket for 2.

UAE also introduced left arm spinner Ahmed Raza in the third over of the match and Afghanistan batsmen struggled to force the pace. Silva struck again with the fifth ball of his next over by clean bowling Mohammad Shahzad for 9.  Khurram Khan persisted with spin introducing Ali and also himself hoping to get quick wickets.

Nowroz Mangal and Noor Ali rose to the challenge. They used their feet and picked the gaps to put on 32 runs for the third wicket before another left-arm spinner Fayyaz Ahmed provided the breakthrough by having Mangal caught at long off by Qadar Nawaz for 14. 

Asghar Stanikzai joined Ali and lifted Khan for two sixes over long on to ease the tension in the 13th over. He drove and lifted the bowlers fearlessly. Afghanistan need 14 runs to win in the last three overs when Ahmed had Stanikzai brilliantly caught at long on by a diving Nawaz for 26.

Ali steered the team to victory with three balls to spare.

Summarised scores:

Afghanistan bt UAE by four wickets. UAE 100 for 9 in 20 overs (Saqib Ali 24, Mohammad Nabi 3 for 17, Hamid Hassan 2 for 23, Mirwais Ashraf 2 for 15) Afghanistan 101 for 6 in 19.3 overs (Noor Ali 38n.o, Asghar Stanikzai 26, Shadeep Silva 2 for 14, Fayyaz Ahmed 2 for 14) Man of the match: Noor Ali.