T20 World Cup’22, UAE vs NAM: United Arab Emirates 148 for 3 (Waseem 50, Rizwan 43, Scholtz 1-22) beat Namibia 141 for 8 (Wiese 55, Hameed 2-17, Zahoor 2-20) by seven runs.

Despite David Wiese and Ruben Trumpelmann’s 80-run partnership off 56 balls for the eighth wicket with Namibia at 69 for 7, UAE actually prevailed. Muhammad Waseem bowled the final over for Namibia, which needed 14 runs, but Wiese was run out on the fourth ball, leaving Namibia without enough muscle at the end.

Netherlands, along with Sri Lanka, will advance to the Super12s in second place based on the outcome, with Namibia eliminated despite being the favourites. UAE will also leave the tournament, but it will do so with some points.

When Waseem, who was tasked with bowling the 17th over and had set UAE’s total with a half-century, dropped Wiese off his own bowling on 33, they were very close to losing their chance at victory. Waseem had time to get there as Wieseem laboured, but he was unable to hold on as the ball flew straight up. After that, in the final over, he bowled, and Wiese was caught by Alishan Sharafu at long-on. The ball was going for six if Sharafu hadn’t timed his jump and held on, so he was able to put an end to Namibia’s chances. Waseem had only bowled 22 balls in 19 T20 games before Thursday, and Wiese was one of his three victims.

UAE’s innings earlier began slowly but ended strongly on a surface that seemed to get better for batting as the ball got older. In the first ten overs, they were 58 for 1 and only reached 100 in the 16th. However, in the final five overs, they scored 51 runs, making it close to 150 and their second-highest T20 World Cup total. Although Namibia’s fielding effort was mostly disciplined, left-armers JJ Smit and Jan Frylinck both gave up 69 runs in seven overs, and opening bowler Ben Shikongo only bowled the 15th over.

On the other hand, Chundangapoyil Rizwan, captain of the UAE, made some brilliant choices on the field. In this tournament, Basil Hameed became the first bowler to bowl three consecutive overs in the powerplay in Geelong. He took two wickets and left Namibia on 26 for 3 after five overs. Karthik Meiyappan opened up the middle-order by removing Namibia’s captain, Gerhard Erasmus, and running out Smit. When Zahoor Khan was brought back in the 13th over, Namibia could not recover from 46 for 5 despite the arrival of David Wiese. He took two wickets in his second over, leaving Namibia in ruins. Wiese and Trumplemann fought back, but they couldn’t win.

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Waseem leads the way 

The UAE’s most skilled batter anchored their innings with the right amount of vigour and vigour to prepare them for a close game. He got his first goal when he got down on one knee and swept Bernard Scholtz over a deep backward square. After that, he worked the ball around for a while and played strong footwork against Jan Frylinck.