United Arab Emirates (UAE) have defeated Afghanistan by 11 runs in the second T20I full of thrill and drama. As a result, the series is now tied at 1-1.

UAE won the toss and elected to bat first at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. They got off to a good start in batting. The two openers Muhammad Wasim and Aryan Lakra continued to take the UAE innings forward. The two openers started scoring runs with aggressive batting from the start. UAE scored 55 runs without a wicket from 6 overs of powerplay.

The fierce batting continued even at the end of the powerplay. Waseem picked up a great fifty. But he had to stop after reaching fifty. Wasim played a brilliant innings of 53 runs off 32 balls before he was dismissed at the team’s 72 runs. Lakra did not give up even after losing his partner. He continued to advance the team's innings with fluent batting.

None of the rest did well. Lakra played with responsibility. Due to his efficient batting, UAE put on a challenging total. Lakra reached fifty. He played a great innings of 63 runs off 47 balls and remained unbeaten until the end of the innings. At the end of the scheduled 20-over game, UWE lost 7 wickets and scored 166 runs. Apart from Waseem and Lakra, only two players managed to reach the double-digit score. Tanish Suri scored 11 runs off 5 balls. Apart from this, Akif Raja was unbeaten after playing an innings of 13 runs from 11 balls.

Azmatullah Omarzai and Qais Ahmad took 2 wickets each for Afghanistan. Apart from this, Mohammad Nabi and Fazalhaq Farooqi got 1 wicket each.

Afghanistan got off to a good start in reply. 47 runs came from the opening pair. The two openers Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz were quite fluent from the start. Gurbaz got out after scoring 21 runs off 17 balls. Afghanistan scored 47 runs losing the wicket of Gurbaz from 6 overs of Powerplay.

Zazai was dismissed at the team’s 72 runs after playing a good innings of 36 runs from 27 balls. After that Mohammad Nabi kept one end. With his fluent batting, the Afghans were well on their way to victory. But the other batters failed to support Nabi. The wickets were falling, it was difficult for the Afghans to win towards the end.

Qais Ahmed played an effective innings of 18 runs off 13 balls. Nabi continued to fight until the end. The fall of one wicket after another made Afghanistan's victory almost impossible towards the end. Nabi added 27 runs with Naveen-ul-Haq in the last wicket. But even that did not last. After being all out for 155 runs, Afghanistan lost the match by 11 runs. UAE got an amazing victory. Nabi was dismissed in the very last ball after playing an innings of 47 runs off 27 balls.

Muhammad Jawadullah and Ali Naseer took 4 wickets each for UAE. Besides, Junaid Siddique and Akif Raza got 1 wicket each.