Muhammad Waseem came up with an all-round show as UAE scripted their first ever T20 World Cup win, defeating Namibia by seven runs in the concluding group A match In Geelong on Thursday.
Courtesy UAE’s win, the Netherlands qualified for the Super 12 from Group A, along with Sri Lanka, while Namibia, who were in the reckoning before the match, got also eliminated.
UAE were already eliminated after Sri Lanka beat the Netherlands by 16 runs earlier in the day.
Chasing 149 for a win on a two-paced pitch, Namibia lost half their side inside 10 overs and it was then left to the seasoned David Wiese to steer his ship with 55 from 36 balls. He hit three fours and as many sixes.
But, the effort proved insufficient as Waseem (1/16 from two overs) came out on top with a perfect final over and dismissed Wiese to seal a memorable victory.
Wiese had a superb 70-run eighth wicket partnership with Ruben Turmpelmann who played the perfect foil with occasional boundaries and clever rotation of the strike in his 25 not out of 24 balls.
Namibia needed 20 runs from the last two overs, but Zahoor Khan came up with a perfect penultimate over and conceded just six runs, cleverly mixing up his deliveries and bowling with cross-seam.
With pressure getting on him, Wiese went for a big hit in the final over and holed out at the long on boundary.
Earlier, Waseem slammed a composed 50 (41b; 1×4, 3×6) while skipper CP Rizwan remained unbeaten on 43 from 29 deliveries to take UAE to a fighting 148 for three after electing to bat.
They got off to a slow start with Vritya Aravind struggling to step up and was dismissed for 21 from 32 deliveries.
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But once Rizwan joined Waseem at the crease, runs started flowing.
After Waseem’s departure, Basil Hameed (25 not out; 14 balls) provided the late push, scoring 33 runs in the last two overs, along with Rizwan who remained not out.
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