Day 10 of the T20 World Cup begins at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi with Rashid Khan’s Afghanistan facing Muhammad Waseem’s UAE. Afghanistan will start as favourites, but the United Arab Emirates showed enough guts to threaten on their day.
Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates will clash in a crucial Group D clash, with both teams looking for a definitive result in their campaign. Afghanistan got off to a frustrating start, losing both their opening matches. Their latest defeat was particularly painful headed to South Africa in a rare double thriller Super Overhe fell just short of taking the match to the limit – a result head coach Jonathan Trott described as devastating.
The loss left Afghanistan winless and dented their net speed, putting them in a precarious position in a tightly packed group. While their batting unit showed flashes of promise, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz among those who contributed meaningfully, they struggled to get a collective result at key moments.
The UAE, meanwhile, head into the clash with renewed confidence after a five-wicket win over Canada. Chasing 151, they recovered from 66 for four thanks to an 84-run partnership between Aryansh Sharma and Sohaib Khan to seal victory with two balls to spare.
Earlier, Junaid Siddique’s five-wicket haul restricted Canada to 150 for seven, starting the chase. Buoyed by this performance, the UAE will be looking to boost their qualification hopes.