COLOMBO: Pakistan Shaheens thrashed United Arab Emirates A by 184-runs at the at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium on Monday to register their second successive win in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

The huge victory for the Mohammad Haris-led side was down to dominant show by the batters before all-rounder Qasim Akram snapped up six wickets to wrap it up for the Shaheens.

Chasing 310 to win — after half-centuries by Haris, Sahibzada Farhan, Kamran Ghulam and Saim Ayub had piled up a mammoth total for Pakistan — UAE’s only show of resistance was the opening partnership of 59 runs between Aryansh Sharma and Jonathan Figy.

Once Qasim gave the Shaheens the breakthrough in form of Sharma’s wicket, the off-spinner and chinaman Sufiyan Muqeem were all over the Emiratis, who were bundled out for a mere 125 runs.

Qasim registered figures of 6-26 in 10 overs while Sufiyan ended up with 3-35 in nearly nine overs. Pacer Mohammad Wasim took the remaining wicket for the Shaheens.

Earlier, after being put into bat, Shaheens’ opening pair of Saim and Farhan provided a solid 98-run start to the innings. The right-handed Farhan was the first one to return back to the hut after scoring 63 off 55 balls, which included 10 fours and a six.

Left-hander Saim was soon to follow, not before smashing five fours and two sixes in his 63-ball knock for 56..

Following the dismissals of both openers, Omair Bin Yousuf (24 off 39, two fours) was next to go with the scorecard reading 160-3 in 27.4 overs. At that important juncture of the match, Kamran Ghulam was joined by skipper Haris and the pair knitted an 87-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Haris (55 off 46, nine fours) returned back to pavilion in the 40th over, while Kamran (63 off 53, four fours and as many sixes) followed his captain as Shaheens were 284-5 in 43.4 overs.

The late middle-order then failed to contribute significantly as Shaheens were dismissed for 309 in 49.2 overs — losing five wickets for 24 runs.

For UAE A, Jash Giyanani was the most successful bowler, taking 4-50 in 10 overs.

Scores in brief:

PAKISTAN SHAHEENS 309 in 49.2 overs (Kamran Ghulam 63, Sahibzada Farhan 63, Saim Ayub 56, Mohammad Haris 55; Jash Giyanani 4-50, Matiullah Khan 2-53); UAE A 125 in 29.5 overs (Aryansh Sharma 37, Jonathan Figy 25; Qasim Akram 6-26, Sufiyan Muqeem 3-36).

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2023