Najibullah Zadran’s blazing cameo and Rohan Mustafa’s tight spell sink Qalandars
Chasing the target, Qalandars were restricted to 103 for 5. UAE off-spinner Rohan Mustafa bagged two wickets for 19 runs. He was well backed by some accurate bowling from all the other bowlers. It was a sad end for Qalandars who began with a bang through five consecutive victories.
Qalandars won the toss and elected to field. Leonardo Julien, a 19-year-old left-handed batsman from West Indies, opened the innings and picked a boundary off Sohail Tanvir’s third delivery of the first over to deep square leg. Opener Paul Stirling smashed Samit Patel for 24 runs in the second over. It included two sixes and three boundaries.
Ahmed Daniyal picked the wicket of Stirling with the second ball of the third over by forcing him to pull straight to Daniel Bell-Drummond at square leg for 26. Julien pulled Daniyal for a six and Abu Dhabi picked 11 runs off that over. Julien also picked a boundary off Mohammad Zahid in the fourth over but fell to the last ball of that over getting caught by Bell-Drummond at mid-wicket for 19.
Nepal batsman Kushal Malla hit Ali Khan for a straight six in the fifth over but Jamie Overton fell to the last ball of that over getting caught at long-on for 1. At the halfway mark, Abu Dhabi was 63 for 3.
Leg spinner Kurshid Anwar clean bowled Ben Duckett for 7 off the last ball of the sixth over. Zahid bowled an excellent seventh over giving away just four runs and also yorked Malla for 18.
