Plays of the day from the Asia Cup clash between Pakistan and UAE in Mirpur

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur29-Feb-20161:08

100 T20Is for Pakistan

The turning pointWith Pakistan needing 40 off 26 balls, Usman Mushtaq dropped Shoaib Malik at deep square-leg after the batsman top-edged Mohammad Naveed’s excellent bouncer. Malik was on 41 at the time, and the fumble left Naveed frustrated and captain Amjad Javed angry. In the first two balls of the next over, Malik struck Rohan Mustafa for a four and six over wide mid-on, increasing the cost of that drop.The early switchEight balls into his first spell, Mohammad Amir switched to around the wicket to the right-handed batsman Muhammad Kaleem. The plan was to hit the stumps and after one ball, he went through Kaleem’s defenses. There was no footwork from the batsman, which helped create the gap that Ameer broke through.The pin-ball hitShaiman Anwar had struck a four a six when he suddenly went after Mohammad Nawaz and Shahid Afridi in the 12th and 13th overs. The start of this short hitting spree was a swept six that nearly landed in the second tier of the eastern stands. Someone failed to take the catch in the crowd, as the ball bounced around the stands. Anwar found his groove from that big hit, and added four more boundaries in the next nine balls.The gapIn the 18th over of UAE’s innings, Mohammad Irfan was waiting for a throw from Umar Akmal, who ran in from long-on to field a hit from Muhammad Usman. As the throw came, the ball bounced short of Irfan and had the bowler not jumped, it would have hit him in the crotch. The ball went through to wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who helped himself to a big laugh.The duck brokenAhmed Raza had not conceded a four or a six for three consecutive matches against Oman, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, giving away just 37 runs from his 11 overs. That duck was broken by Shoaib Malik cutting him hard past point for four. Raza did not show any emotion, and soon after, he was hit even for six, also by Malik, over long-on.