Saim Ayub and Hasan Nawaz’s firepower overwhelmed UAE as Pakistan registered their second win in as many days: a 31-run thumping of the home side. The pair’s half-centuries did the lion’s share of the work as cameos around them kept Pakistan’s momentum ticking along through the first innings. A burst at the end from Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali carried them to 207, their joint third-highest T20I total.

UAE’s chase was highly dependent on what their captain Muhammad Waseem could do during the powerplay. Sure enough, a blistering start kindled brief optimism as he raced along to 33, but his innings was cut down in its prime after a horrible mix-up towards the end of the Powerplay.

Another wicket fell the following ball as the innings petered out as Mohammad Nawaz and Ayub squeezed the home side in the overs that followed, rendering the contest uncompetitive long before the outcome was made official. Asif Khan, UAE’s lower-order power-hitter, looked destructive in his innings, a 35-ball 77, but, like Rashid Khan’s the day before, it had come about far too late.

Saim unleashes

Perhaps this was the innings closest to the mould of a vintage Ayub knock since he returned from his injury at the start of the year. It all began in a 22-run third over where he carted Junaid Siddique for two sixes and a four. Boundaries were sprinkled through the powerplay but carried on even as the fielding restrictions lifted, as left-arm quick Muhammad Jawadullah found out. He hit a four and a six, and then the same off the first two balls of the following over as Ayub sped to a 25-ball half-century. While his team-mates were curiously unable to cash in to the same degree from the other end, his innings, which ended after being contentiously given out caught behind for a 38-ball 69, had helped Pakistan maintain a run rate above nine.

The smaller contributions

Hasan Nawaz took Ayub’s baton and ran with it, becoming the destroyer-in-chief during the second half of the innings. It culminated in a thrilling dismantling of the UAE’s best bowler, spinner Haider Ali, who until then had gone for just 12 in three. The first three balls of his final over were dispatched for 18 runs before Nawaz miscued one, getting an inside edge to see a brilliant knock come to an end after he had plundered 38 off 22.

But Pakistan were still in a slightly precarious situation. They had lost their sixth wicket with the score at 163, and there were still 26 balls left to utilise. Mike Hesson has made no secret of his desire to have batters deep down the innings to squeeze every last drop of run-scoring potential, even if it comes at the cost of specialist bowling. Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali each chipped in during this time with 25, 16 and 9 respectively. It all combined for 45 in the final four overs to take Pakistan beyond 200 and truly secure their position in case the UAE did something remarkable with the bat.

Asif Khan’s brutal counterattack

Asif Khan is the only UAE batter to boast a superior strike rate to his captain Waseem this year, and he showed why in a mauling of Pakistan’s bowlers late on in the game. That the contest was effectively over by this time felt cruel, because an innings of such power should not go to waste. Pakistan’s intensity may have dropped with spinners and seamers alike repeatedly bowling into his arc, but that wasn’t to detract from how consistently he dispatched them.

He scored just 11 off the first 12 balls, but after smashing Sufiyan Muqim for 17 in the 14th over, he unleashed beast mode. Hasan Ali, poor with the ball for much of the day, fed him in the slot and paid for it with another 19 runs, and the hits just kept coming. Muqim conceded another 17, Salman Mirza 18 more.

None of it ever threatened to overturn the outcome; the UAE had needed 122 in seven overs by the time Asif hit his stride. But it does take UAE above Afghanistan on net run rate, having lost to Pakistan by a smaller margin than Rashid Khan’s men did on Friday. When Hasan returned in the final over and bounced him out, Asif had a wry smile on his face. His last 22 deliveries had produced 66 runs, and even with this outcome, he was entitled to a bit of satisfaction.

Brief scores:
Pakistan 207 all out in 20 overs (Saim Ayub 69, Hasan Nawaz 56, Mohammad Nawaz 25, Faheem Ashraf 16; Junaid Siddique 3-49, Haider Ali 2-32,  Saghir Khan 3-44) beat UAE 176 for 8 in 20 overs (Muhammad Zohaib 13, Asif Khan 77, Muhammad Waseem 33, Rahul Chopra 11, Dhruv Parashar 15, Saghir Khan 11; Salman Mirza 1-43, Hasan Ali 3-47, Mohammad Nawaz 2-21, Saim Ayub 1-06)  by 31 runs

[Cricinfo]