The United Arab Emirates (UAE) suffered a seven-wicket loss against Australia in its debut T20I played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Thanks to opener D'Arcy Short fiery 53-ball 68, Aussies easily chased down the target with seven wickets in hand despite losing skipper Aaron Finch early in the game.
UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa’s decision to bat first after winning the toss did not seem to go in his favor as UAE managed to put just 117 runs for loss of six wickets in 20 overs, losing two wickets without any runs on board. Australia achieved the target easily with 23 balls left, at the loss of three wickets.
After Captain Andrew Finch (1) early dismissal, Short, who was declared as the man of the match scored an unbeaten 68 off 53 balls with hitting eight fours. In addition to the half-century by Short, Chris Lynn and Glenn Maxwell contributed 20 and 18 runs respectively. For UAE, Amir Hyatt took two wickets for 26 runs.
Shaman Anwar (41) and Mohammad Nawad made an unbeaten 27 off 13 balls in the last over to give the team a respectable score. Australia now has to play three-match T20 Internationals against Pakistan.
United Arab Emirates Playing XI:
Ashfaq Ahmed, Rohan Mustafa (c), Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber (wk), Imran Haider, Ahmed Raza, Mohammad Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan
Australia Playing XI:
Chris Lynn, D Arcy Short, Aaron Finch (c), Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake