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Afghanistan beat UAE to get on the board
Scorecard
Afghanistan stayed in contention for the Super Eight stage with a five-wicket win over UAE in New Delhi on Monday. An all-round performance from Azmatullah Omarzai helped Afghanistan to their first win of this World Cup campaign.
Afghanistan have climbed to No 3 in Group D, and are battling with New Zealand and UAE for the final qualification spot from their group. Having won their first three matches, South Africa are through.
After electing to field first, Afghanistan restricted UAE to 160/9 in 20 overs. It was touch and go, but Afghanistan chased down the target with four balls and five wickets to spare.
Junaid Siddique struck early for UAE, dismissing the dangerous Rahmanullah Gurbaz on the second ball of the innings. His incredible opening spell read 1/7 in two overs.
They put on 41/2 in powerplay, but it has been a stop-start innings by Afghanistan. Opener Ibrahim Zadran helped them recover from early wickets with a well-paced half-century. He struck six fours and a six but fell just when it looked like they were getting a move on in their chase.
Omarzai, who had snapped four wickets, then dominated with the bat, hitting two fours and three sixes for an unbeaten 40 to take his team over the line.