Pakistan set up another meeting against India with a 41-run victory over the United Arab Emirates at the Asia Cup.
The match began an hour late in Dubai amid the ongoing fallout from Sunday’s game against India, and Pakistan’s win to secure a place in the Super Four stage of the competition means the story will continue.
With India already qualified, the pair will play each other again on Sunday in Dubai.
The pre-match uncertainty carried into the start of the Pakistan innings and they quickly slipped to 9-2 with UAE seamer Junaid Siddique (4-18) removing both openers, including Saim Ayub for a third duck in five innings.
Fakhar Zaman helped get the innings back on track, scoring 50 from 36 balls, but Pakistan got themselves into trouble again at 93-6 soon after he was dismissed.
Just as was the case against India, it took a late cameo from Shaheen Afridi, who hit three sixes in his 29 from 14, to take them to a more respectable total – 146-9.
Afridi then made his mark with the ball, taking the first of three wickets in the powerplay as the UAE were reduced to 37-3.
A 48-run partnership between Rahul Chopra and Dhruv Parashar kept the UAE in contention but with the required rate steadily climbing, both were dismissed and a collapse to 105 all out ensued with the last wicket going down in the 18th over.
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