Nabi’s Heroics in Vain as Afghanistan lose the 2nd T20I by 11 Runs

Mohammad Nabi scored a valiant 47-run knock but was unable to get Afghanistan over the line as the hosts took the 2nd T20I home by 11 runs to level the series 1-1. 

Earlier in the evening, UAE opted to bat first and led by captain Mohammad Waseem (53) got to a flier as they made 55/0 in the first six overs. The middle overs were controlled by the Afghanistan bowlers but the UAE pulled things back in the death overs and managed to post 166/7 in the first inning. For Afghanistan, Qais Ahmad (2/15) and Azmatullah Omarzai (2/35) got two wickets whereas Mohammad Nabi and Fazal Haq Farooqi returned with one wicket apiece. 

In reply, Afghanistan got into a decent start but lost wickets at regular intervals. Hazratullah Zazai (36) in the first ten overs followed by Qais Ahmad (18) and Mohammad Nabi (47) in the death overs tried hard to pull things around but lost their wickets in the process and the team fell 11 runs short of the target. 

The three-match T20I series has now been leveled 1-1 with the decider all set to be played on January 2 at the same venue where AfghanAtalan will be looking for a repeat of February 21, 2023, where they won the decider against the same opponent and took the three-match T20I series 2-1.