Asia Cup T20, Match 6: Pakistan vs United Arab Emirates - As it happened...

Over 18.4 || Score 131/3 (Malik 63, Akmal 50)

Naveed to bowl the penultimate over of the match. Akmal took a single off the 2nd ball to complete his fifty. Responsible knock by the hard hitter. Off the fourth ball, Malik cut the bowler towards point to hit a boundary and finish the game in style. And with that Pakistan won the match against UAE by seven wickets.  

Over 18 || Score 126/3 (Malik 59, Akmal 49)

Amjad Javed is back to bowl his last over. Umar Akmal took the revenge from the pacer by hitting the bowler for a six, boundary and then again a six off the first three balls. In the last ball Malik too joined the party by launching the bowler for another maximum. 23 runs from the over. Pak need 4 runs from 12 balls.  

Over 17 || Score 103/3 (Malik 53, Akmal 32)

Mustafa to bowl the over. Malik hit the bowler for a boundary and a six off the first two balls. Pakistan have also crossed the 100-run mark. Malik too completed his fifty. Much needed over for the batting team as 12 came off it. Pak need 27 from 18 balls. 

Over 16 || Score 91/3 (Malik 42, Akmal 31)

Shahzad to bowl his last over. UAE have now started losing the grip over the match. Malik is breaking the shackles now. Off the 3rd ball, Malik hit fifth boundary. Malik dropped at deep square leg by Usman Mushtaq. Seven from the over. Pak need 39 runs off 24 balls.   

Over 15 || Score 84/3 (Malik 36, Akmal 30)

Ahmed Raza with his 3rd over. Malik charged the left arm spinner and hit him for a six to get nine from the over. Pakistan need 46 runs off 30 balls. 
 

Over 14 || Score 75/3 (Malik 28, Akmal 29)

Naveed has been reintroduced into the attack. Malik collected a crucial boundary off the 2nd ball. Then Akmal pulled the pacer for six over cow corner. Big over for Pak as 11 came off it. Pakistan need 55 runs off 37 balls.  

Over 13 || Score 64/3 (Malik 23, Akmal 21)

Mustafa to continue. It seems that Malik and Akmal are happy with singles and doubles. Five runs from the over. Pakistan need 66 runs off 42 balls. 

Over 12 || Score 59/3 (Malik 21, Akmal 20)

Fahad Tariq into the attack for the first time. And Umar came down the track to hit the medium pacer towards extra covers for a boundary. Good over for Pakistan as eight runs came off it.  
 

Over 11 || Score 51/3 (Malik 20, Akmal 13)

Rohan Mustafa has been introduced for the first time. Pakistan touched the fifty run mark with a single off the 3rd ball. But a tight over first up by the left arm spinner, three came from it. 

Over 10 || Score 48/3 (Malik 19, Akmal 11)

Shahzad set to bowl his 3rd over. Off the last ball came a boundary from Malik's willow towards fine leg. Seven from the over.  

Over 9 || Score 41/3 (Malik 13, Akmal 10)

Raza with his 2nd over. Malik cut spinners 2nd ball towards gully region for a boundary. Then came two more singles as the left arm bowler conceded six in the over. 

Over 8 || Score 35/3 (Malik 8, Akmal 9)

Shahzad to continue. Testing time for Mailk and Akmal in the middle. A wicket or two at this point will put Pakistan under immense pressure. Four from the over.   

Over 7 || Score 31/3 (Malik 8, Akmal 5)

Left arm spinner, Ahmed Raza set to bowl his first over. Four singles came off the first four balls. Then came another off the last. Sensible batting by Malik and Akmal. 

Over 5 || Score 26/3 (Malik 6, Akmal 2)

Amjad Javed with his 3rd over. Malik opened his account with a double and then hit an expensive cover drive off the next to collect a boundary. Eight runs came from the over. 

Over 5 || Score 26/3 (Malik 6, Akmal 2)

Amjad Javed with his 3rd over. Malik opened his account with a double and then hit an expensive cover drive off the next to collect a boundary. Eight runs came from the over. 

Over 5 || Score 18/3 (Malik 0, Akmal 1)

First bowling change! Mohammad Shahzad has been given the ball. Pakistan need a partnership here. Tight over first up by the pacer, one run from it. 
 

Over 4 || Score 17/3 (Malik 0, Akmal 0)

Big wicket for UAE as Javed now sent Hafeez back to the pavilion. Shoaib Malik has come to the middle. Tense situation for Pakistan. 

Mohammad Hafeez c Fahad Tariq b Amjad Javed 11 (12b)

Over 3 || Score 16/2 (Hafeez 11, Akmal 0)

Naveed to continue. Off the third ball, Hafeez collected his 2nd boundary towards mid-wicket. Five runs came from it. 

Over 2 || Score 11/2 (Hafeez 6, Akmal 0)

Skipper Amjad Javed to bowl the over. Sharjeel welcomed the bowler by hitting him for a boundary towards point region. Sharjeel Out! Javed returned sharply and trapped the southpaw in front of the wicket. Twin strike by Javed as he got Manzoor's wicket after a gap of two balls. 

Khurram Manzoor c Patil b Amjad Javed 0 (2b)

Sharjeel Khan lbw b Amjad Javed 4 (3b)

Over 1 || Score 7/0 (Hafeez 6, Sharjeel 0)

Mohammad Naveed to bowl the fist over of the innings. Hafeez on strike and off the third ball he opened Pakistan's account with a double. Off the last ball Hafeez hit a straight drive to get the first boundary.   

Over 20 || Score 129/6 (Javed 27, Naveed 10)

Sami to bowl the last over of the innings. Naveed hit the bowler for a six off the 2nd ball over deep mid-wicket. Then came a boundary off the next towards fine third man. No run came off the last three balls as UAE put up a fighting total of 130 runs in from of Pakistan to win the match.   

Over 19 || Score 118/6 (Javed 26)

Amir with his last over. Off the 3rd Usman sliced the bowler towards point region for a boundary. But Amir made good comeback and sent the batsman back in the hut after a gap of two balls.  

Muhammad Usman b Mohammad Amir 21 (17b)  

Over 18 || Score 114/5 (Javed 26, Usman 17)

Irfan with his last over. Javed pulled the pacer for a six off the 2nd ball. He is connecting the ball well. Two balls later, Javed smacked the bowler straight down the ground for yet another maximum. Big over for UAE, 13 came off it. 

Over 17 || Score 101/5 (Javed 14, Usman 16)

Mohammad Amir has been called back into the attack to bowl in death overs. From here on UAE will look to target at least 130 plus. Amir bowled an excellent over, mere a single came off it. 

Over 16 || Score 100/5 (Javed 14, Usman 15)

Shami back in action. Skipper Javed is looking dangerous as he has started hitting big shots. He hit Sami for two boundaries in the over as UAE collected ten off it. And with that UAE have also reached the three figure mark.  

Over 15 || Score 90/5 (Javed 14, Usman 15)

Shoaib Malik proved costly in his first over as Muhammad Usman hit him for a six first and then collected a boundary off the next. Malik leaked 14 runs in the over. 

Over 14 || Score 76/5 (Javed 4, Usman 2)

Irfan picked his 2nd wicket and the pacer gave UAE yet another blow by picking up the wicket of dangerous Anwar, who gave a simple catch behind the wickets. 

Shaiman Anwar c Sarfraz Ahmed b Mohammad Irfan 46 (42b)

Over 13 || Score 70/4 (Anwar 44, Usman 2)

Anwar broke the shackles as he hit three consecutive fours off Afridi. Another big over for UAE as 17 came off it. Anwar is mere six runs shy of his fifty.   

Over 12 || Score 53/4 (Anwar 29, Usman 1)

Nawaz went for too many runs in his third over. The left-arm spinner leaked 12 runs as Anwar slapped him for a six and boundary off the first two balls.  

Over 11 || Score 41/4 (Anwar 18)

Afridi with his third over. Mushtaq Out! UAE lost his 4th wicket as Mushtaq played a paddle sweep straight to Nawaz at short fine leg. UAE in deep deep trouble.

Usman Mushtaq c Mohammad Nawaz b Shahid Afridi 9 (19b 

Over 10 || Score 40/3 (Anwar 17, Mushtaq 9)

Nawaz to continue. Anwar and Mustaq are playing sensibly in the middle. That's the kind of batting UAE need from their batsmen. Four from the over.

Over 9 || Score 35/3 (Anwar 15, Mushtaq 6)

Shahid Afridi to continue. Tight over by the skipper as mere two runs came off it. 

Over 8 || Score 33/3 (Anwar 15, Mushtaq 6)

Another spinner, this time Mohammad Nawaz to bowl his first over. Off the penultimate ball Anwar played an inside-out shot to hit the bowler over extra covers for a six. Ten runs came from the over. 

Over 6 || Score 20/3 (Anwar 5, Mushtaq 5)

Skipper Shahid Afridi to bowl his first over. And the leg spinner bowled a tight over by conceding mere three in it.  
 

Over 7 || Score 23/3 (Anwar 7, Mushtaq 5)

Sami and Irfan bowled the last two overs as eight runs came of them. UAE need a good partnership from Anwara and Mushtaq after losing three quick wickets.  

Over 4 || Score 12/3 (Anwar 1)

First bowling change! Mohammad Irfan has been introduced. Mohammad Shahzad Out! After hitting the bowler for boundary, Shahzad edged the pacer straight to the wicket-keeper. UAE is in deep trouble.   

Mohammad Shahzad c Sarfraz Ahmed b Mohammad Irfan 5 (3b)

Over 3 || Score 5/2 (Anwar 0, Shahzad 0)

Amir to continue. And he bowled Kaleem. What a delivery it was. Both the UAE openers are back in the pavilion.  

Muhammad Kaleem b Mohammad Amir 1 (11b)

Over 2 || Score 5/1 (Kaleem 1)

Mohammad Sami to bowl the 2nd over of the match. Rohan Mustafa Out! In trying to hit the bowler out of the park, Mustafa misstimed his shot completely and gave a simple catch to skipper Shahid Afridi. 

Rohan Mustafa c Shahid Afridi b Mohammad Sami 1 (5b)

Over 1 || Score 1/0 (Kaleem 0; Mustafa 1)

Mohammad Amir to bowl the first over for Pakistan, while Rohan Mustafa and Muhammad Kaleem are opening the batting for UAE. Mustafa opened UAE's account with a single off the 2nd ball. And that was the only run given by Amir.  

United Arab Emirates XI: R Mustafa, M Kaleem, M Shahzad, M Usman, S Anwar, +S Patil, F Tariq, *AJaved, U Mushtaq, A Raza, M Naveed #PAKvUAE

— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) February 29, 2016

Pakistan XI: K Manzoor, S Khan, M Hafeez, S Malik, +S Ahmed, U Akmal, *S Afridi, M Nawaz, M Sami, M Amir, M Irfan #PAKvUAE

— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) February 29, 2016

UAE have won the toss and elected to bat first.