UAE was able to restrict Afghanistan to only 100 runs in 20 overs during the first inning while Afghanistan’s batsmen couldn't resist the well disciplined bowling and fielding of UAE. For Afghanistan, Jawed Ahmadi (24) and Aftab Alam (32) were productive whereas other batsmen didn't manage to generate defendable total.
This left a huge task for Afghan bowlers and fielders to defend their low total. Mirwais Ashraf, Jawid Ahmadi and Hamza Hotak bowled remarkably well with 2 wickets for Mirwais and one wicket for both Jawid and Hamza. However, this was not sufficient and UAE was able to reach the target in the 19th over.
Looking at our face-book fan page, the result of this caused widespread disappointment among Afghan cricket fans around the globe. Many comments were posted with direct criticism pointing to cricket officials in Afghanistan. Many argued that the absence of a regular coach for national team is bound to result in such a humiliating defeat. However, some fans consider these matches as practice ones and argue that it is a good opportunity for our youngsters to get international exposure. In addition, they highlight the fact that the absence of our well established international stars (Hamid Hassan, Mohammad Nabi Isakhil and Samiullah Shinwari) was also deeply felt as one Afghan cricket fan say: “every team has 2 or 3 match wining players and for Afghanistan, match wining players are mainly these 3, Hamid, Sami and Nabi”.
On another hand, the Afghan Cheetahs beat Peshawar Panthers by one wicket during a twenty 20 match at Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium in Peshawar on Sunday. This win at least had some effect to cheer up Afghan fans.
We thank our friend Asmat Afghan for providing us live score directly from the cricket ground in Dubai.
Finale score UAE 104/4 beat Afghanistan 100/9 by six wickets, full score card not available
