(ESPNCRICINFO) – 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.