ANI
16 Feb 2026, 21:04 GMT+10
New Delhi [India], February 16 (ANI): Afghanistan defeated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by five wickets in match 28 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 held at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.
Azmatullah Omarzai played a match-winning knock of an unbeaten 40 runs off 21 balls while chasing after achieving impressive bowling figures of 15/4 in Afghanistan's third Group D fixture, which helped the Rashid Khan-led side secure a five-wicket win over the UAE.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan said, 'Happy to finish with a win, it's important to have points in a T20 WC. Hoping for the best. To restrict them under 160 was a good effort; we pulled things back, but we didn't do well in the first 10 overs. That's been a problem for us in all the games and something we need to work on.'
On wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who failed to score in this match, he added, 'We know how aggressive he is. He goes out with a positive mindset -- it doesn't always work, but it's good for the team when he gets going. We've quite a lot of experience.'
On the abundance of experience in the Afghanistan team, he said, 'Azmat has played a lot. Nabi is the most experienced guy in the team. It's always good to have experience, and that's the most important.'
Speaking about Afghanistan's next match against Canada, he said, 'You never know, it's a T20 game, we'll have to come up with a good brand of cricket, irrespective of the chances of making it to the Super 8. We want to make the country and our people proud and happy.'
Azmatullah Omarzai was named Player of the Match for his all-round performance. After receiving his award, he said, 'I'm very happy with my performance. I was trying to bowl in the hard length and hit the pitch hard. The first ball was a wicket, but the ball didn't carry, and I took four wickets again. That first wicket got the momentum for us. When I went to bat, I looked at the scoreboard. There were a lot of balls for us. We needed to play straight and rotate the strike. And I was speaking to my partner, just play straight, and we were waiting for the bad ball.'
Earlier, Afghanistan halted the UAE at 160/9 in 20 overs after inviting them to bat first. Omarzai was the best bowler for Afghanistan as he picked up four wickets while conceding 15 runs in his four overs. Mujeeb Ur Rahman also took a couple of wickets. Captain Rashid Khan also took one wicket in the match and became the first-ever cricketer to complete 700 T20 wickets.
Alishan Sharafu made 40 runs off 31 balls, and Sohaib Khan's 68 runs off 48 balls helped the UAE set a challenging target for the Afghans.
Afghanistan's final group-stage fixture is against Canada, scheduled for Thursday at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium, while the UAE will face South Africa in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI)
Get a daily dose of Nigeria Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Nigeria Sun.
More InformationLONDON, U.K.: Rejecting an attempt by the British Broadcasting Corporation to delay proceedings, a U.S. judge announced on February...
SEATTLE, Washington: The city of Seattle paid US$29 million to the family of a 23-year-old graduate student from India, who was struck...
SEOUL, South Korea: The teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is close to being designated as the country's future leader,...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Internal Revenue Service mistakenly shared the taxpayer information of thousands of people with the Department...
BOSTON, Massachusetts: A Turkish graduate student from Tufts University, whose immigration officials detained near her Massachusetts...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: After the White House excluded Democratic governors from a meeting with President Donald Trump later this month,...
MILAN, Italy: Italy has proposed allowing African countries to suspend debt repayments when struck by extreme climate events, Prime...
New Delhi [India], February 16 (ANI): Afghanistan defeated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by five wickets in match 28 of the ICC Men's...
Nairobi [Kenya], February 16 (ANI): The Kenya Airports Authority on Monday informed the public about the delays affecting departing...
(260216) -- ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 16, 2026 (Xinhua) -- Workers sort coffee beans at a coffee processing plant in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,...
The measure will apply to nearly all goods imported from 53 countries on the continent, President Xi Jinping has said ...
Colombo [Sri Lanka], February 16 (ANI): Australia's veteran batter Steve Smith has been added to the 15-member squad for the ICC Men's...
