Rashid Khan's Afghanistan Clinch Crucial T20 WC Win Over UAE

Azmatullah Omarzai played a match-winning knock of an unbeaten 40 runs off 21 balls while chasing after achieving impressive bowling figures of 15/4 in Afghanistan's third Group D fixture, which helped the Rashid Khan-led side secure a five-wicket win over the UAE.

Speaking during the post-match presentation, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan said, "Happy to finish with a win, it's important to have points in a T20 WC. Hoping for the best. To restrict them under 160 was a good effort; we pulled things back, but we didn't do well in the first 10 overs. That's been a problem for us in all the games and something we need to work on."

On wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who failed to score in this match, he added, "We know how aggressive he is. He goes out with a positive mindset -- it doesn't always work, but it's good for the team when he gets going. We've quite a lot of experience."

On the abundance of experience in the Afghanistan team, he said, "Azmat has played a lot. Nabi is the most experienced guy in the team. It's always good to have experience, and that's the most important."

Speaking about Afghanistan's next match against Canada, he said, "You never know, it's a T20 game, we'll have to come up with a good brand of cricket, irrespective of the chances of making it to the Super 8. We want to make the country and our people proud and happy."

Azmatullah Omarzai was named Player of the Match for his all-round performance. After receiving his award, he said, "I'm very happy with my performance. I was trying to bowl in the hard length and hit the pitch hard. The first ball was a wicket, but the ball didn't carry, and I took four wickets again. That first wicket got the momentum for us. When I went to bat, I looked at the scoreboard. There were a lot of balls for us. We needed to play straight and rotate the strike. And I was speaking to my partner, just play straight, and we were waiting for the bad ball."

Earlier, Afghanistan halted the UAE at 160/9 in 20 overs after inviting them to bat first. Omarzai was the best bowler for Afghanistan as he picked up four wickets while conceding 15 runs in his four overs. Mujeeb Ur Rahman also took a couple of wickets. Captain Rashid Khan also took one wicket in the match and became the first-ever cricketer to complete 700 T20 wickets.

Alishan Sharafu made 40 runs off 31 balls, and Sohaib Khan's 68 runs off 48 balls helped the UAE set a challenging target for the Afghans.

Afghanistan's final group-stage fixture is against Canada, scheduled for Thursday at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium, while the UAE will face South Africa in New Delhi on Wednesday.

- ANI