UAE wins ICC Men’s T20 World Cup qualifier 

ISLAMABAD: UAE won the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s World Cup 2022 Qualifier A on Thursday by beating Ireland in the final courtesy of a stellar knock by opening batter Muhammad Waseem. 

UAE were powered to a convincing seven-wicket victory over Ireland in the final of qualifier A, with Waseem smashing a fiery 112-run knock. Both teams, by winning the semifinals of the qualifier, had already booked their place in the T20 World Cup 2022 on Tuesday. 

UAE’s victory confirmed their spot in Group 1 of the First Round in Australia. They join Sri Lanka and Namibia and will be joined by runner-up in Qualifier B which will be played in Zimbabwe in June. 

Waseem struck 7 fours and an equal number of sixes in an innings which feature class, immaculate strokes and aggressive batting. 

UAE restricted Ireland to 159 runs from 20 overs and chased the target successfully, with eights balls to spare and losing only three wickets in the process. The win helped establish UAE’s dominance over Ireland, with the former getting the better of the latter five times on the trot now. 

Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie credited UAE for playing stellar cricket, saying that they had proven to be the best team in the tournament. 

“We are disappointed because we scraped through to a really good total again. We had a really good Powerplay as well but someone scores a 100 at a strike rate of 200, it is really hard to stop and that was the difference today,” he said. 

UAE skipper Ahmed Raza paid tribute to his side, saying they were “special.” 

“We have gelled over the past six months and it was really hurtful when the World Cup was happening back home and we weren’t a part of it,” he said, adding that the team decided not to let another such opportunity pass them. 

“Different players put their hands up when the chips were down and today it was Waseem,” he added. 

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin in October 2022.