UAE down Netherlands to draw first blood in Twenty20 series

Ashfaq Ahmed and Muhammad Usman scored scintillating fifties as the UAE beat Netherlands by 13 runs in the first Twenty20 on Saturday. Chasing, Netherlands got off to a decent start as the openers added 54 runs for the first wicket in 7.5 overs. But they kept on losing the wickets at regular intervals and could not get the partnerships.

The asking rate kept on climbing that added to the pressure as Netherlands could manage to muster only in 168/4 in their allotted 20 overs.

Earlier, riding on a blitzkrieg fifty by opener Ashfaq Ahmed, the UAE posted a competitive total of 181 for the loss of five wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Ahmed along with Rohan Mustafa (8) added 41 runs for the first wicket in just 4.1overs.

Ahmed was at his brutal best as Roahn’s contribution in 41-run stand was of only eight.

Kingma gave Netherlands first break when he had Rohan caught by wicket-keeper Scott Edward. After the departure of Rohan, Ahmed needed to bind the innings as well as keep the scoreboard moving.

He took the responsibility and combined with the new batsman Ghulam Shabber (19) to add another 41 runs for the second wicket. Both the batsmen played sensibly and took the score to 82-2 in 9.3 overs.

But Ahmed holed out to Glover while trying to hit an aerial shot, which he miscued and the man at the deep mid-wicket did not make any mistake to complete a clean catch. Ahmed’s knock was studded with 11 boundaries.