DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Pakistan set aside its handshake dispute with archrival rival India and thumped the United Arab Emirates by 41 runs to qualify for Super 4 of the Asia Cup on Wednesday.
The Group A game was delayed by an hour before Pakistan proceeded when it claimed match referee Andy Pycroft had apologized for the “miscommunication” which saw Indian players refusing to shake hands with Pakistani players both at the toss and after the game last Sunday.
The UAE seemed to have made the right call and fielded first after winning the toss as Pakistan batters struggled before Shaheen Afridi’s rapid unbeaten 29 off 14 balls took them to 146-9.
UAE batters got squeezed against Pakistan spinners Abrar Ahmed (2-13) and Saim Ayub (1-18), who earlier got his third successive zero in the tournament, before eventually got bowled out for 105 in 17.4 overs and got knocked out of the tournament.
India is now scheduled to meet Pakistan again in a Super 4 game Sunday.
Spinners do it for Pakistan
Afridi bowled Alishan Sharafu (12) through a big inside edge in his second over and captain Muhammad Waseem was spectacularly caught by diving Mohammad Nawaz at point before Ayub cleaned bowled Muhammad Zohaib in his first over as UAE slipped to 37-3 inside the powerplay.
Rahul Chopra (35) labored a run-a-ball innings and Dhurv Parashar made 20 off 23 balls, but UAE didn’t really got the momentum against the spinners. With the run-rate soaring above 10 an over, power-hitter Asif Khan also perished for zero off four balls when he was clean bowled by Abrar’s quicker ball that didn’t spin much before Afridi and Haris Rauf (2-19) wrapped up the innings quickly.
Afridi’s cameo lifts Pakistan
Earlier, fast bowler Junaid Siddique grabbed 4-18 and left-arm spinner Simranjeet Singh got 3-26 to give UAE hope of an upset in a must-win game.
Ayub top-edged Siddique to deep third off the second ball he faced and Sahibzada Farhan reversed an on-field lbw decision through television referral before he too top-edged the fast bowler to long leg as Pakistan slumped to 9-2 in only the third over.
Fakhar Zaman (50) and captain Salman Ali Agha (20) steadied the innings with their 61-run stand off 51 balls with the former smashing Parashar for three sixes before reaching a 35-ball half century.
But Simranjeet grabbed two wickets in one over when he had Zaman caught at cover off the next ball he faced after reaching his fifty and Hasan Nawaz was trapped plumb lbw by the spinner.
Siddique picked up two more wickets in his return spell when he dismissed Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Haris before Afridi’s late onslaught saw him smashing two fours and a six in the final over of fast bowler Muhammad Rohid (0-36).
PCB delays giving green light
The Pakistan team had delayed its departure to the stadium Wednesday as back home PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi consulted with former cricket board heads Najam Sethi and Ramiz Raja in Lahore before giving the go ahead to the team to leave for the stadium.
The Pakistan Cricket Board had demanded that cricket governing body ICC remove Pycroft from the remainder of the tournament before it claimed the Zimbabwean had apologized.
The PCB said in a statement on Wednesday that Pycroft “apologized to the manager and captain of the Pakistan cricket team” for his role Sunday, when he allegedly told Pakistan’s captain that there would be no handshakes at the toss.
“Andy Pycroft termed the September 14 incident a result of miscommunication and apologized,” the PCB said.
The PCB also released a muted video of Pycroft meeting with Pakistan team officials at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Pycroft remained ICC’s appointed match referee and supervised Wednesday’s toss after which both the Pakistan captain and UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem, who was born in Pakistan, shook hands and smiled at each other.
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The Associated Press
