Aaqib, Fayyaz shine as Oman beat UAE

Abu Dhabi - Aaqib Ilyas (45 not out off 51 balls) and Fayyaz Butt (3 for 16) were the heroes for Oman

With exactly a year to go for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, the UAE's campaign in the qualifiers got off to a poor start. Lack of discipline and intent saw the UAE lose to Oman by seven wickets in the Group B match of qualifiers at the Sheik Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Aaqib Ilyas (45 not out off 51 balls) and Fayyaz Butt (3 for 16) were the heroes for Oman.
Asked to bat first, the UAE lost Ashfaq Ahmed (4) in Bilal Khan's opening over as Aaqib took a sharp catch. Chirag Suri and Ghulam Shabbir - both not among the runs lately - showed some resilience, but the introduction of spinner Aamir Kaleem and seamer Mohammad Nadeem saw the UAE slip to 29 for 3 by the sixth over.
Shabbir (7) was unsuccessful with his dash for a non-existent single and was run out. Then Suri (16) lobbed Nadeem for a soft dismissal.
Rohan Mustafa and Rameez Shahzad took the score past 50 by 11 overs.
But change of bowlers again worked for Oman. Spinner Khawar Ali snared Shahzad (14) and Rohan (24) perished trying to smack Bilal for a six.
The UAE got a reprieve as Muhammad Usman, on 14, was dropped by Aaqib.
Usman and Waheed Ahmed then took the UAE past 100. But there was a mini-collapse in the last two overs as speedster Fayyaz Butt picked Waheed (8), Usman (27) and Sultan Ahmed (0), and Bilal bagged Junaid Siddique (2) to restrict the UAE to 108 for 9.
In reply, the UAE grabbed a wicket in the opening over as Junaid packed Khawar (0).
It could have been two down soon, but opener Jatinder Singh was dropped on 2 by Waheed.
Along with Aaqib, Singh steadied the innings.
There was spin from both ends with the UAE skipper Ahmed Raza and Rohan bowling in tandem.
But the UAE lost another chance in the slip cordon.
Even the pace of Zahoor Khan was unleashed on Oman as the UAE tried five bowlers in first eight overs.
The UAE finally got the breakthrough as Singh (15) was run out by Waheed.
However, Kaleem and Aaqib steered Oman past 60 in 10 overs.
With 46 required from next 60 balls, the pair calmly knocked the singles.
But Raza applied the brakes on the 42-run partnership with the scalp of Kaleem (27).
There was no anti-climax, though, as skipper Maqsood and Aaqib, helped by some poor fielding from the UAE, reached the target with 11 balls to spare.