Muhammad Waseem came up with an all-round show as UAE scripted their first-ever T20 World Cup win, defeating Namibia by seven runs in the concluding group A match in Geelong, on Thursday.
UAE's win ensured that the Netherlands qualified for the Super 12 from Group A, along with Sri Lanka, while Namibia, who were in the reckoning before the match got eliminated.
Sri Lanka beat the Netherlands by 16 runs earlier in the day, thereby eliminating the UAE who can go home happy to have won their first T20 World Cup match.
Chasing 149 for a win on a two-paced pitch, Namibia lost half their side inside 10 overs and it was then left to the seasoned David Wiese to steer their ship with 55 from 36 balls. He hit three fours and as many sixes.
But, the effort proved insufficient as Waseem (1/16 from two overs) came out on top with a perfect final over and dismissed Wiese to seal a memorable victory.
Wiese had a superb 70-run eighth-wicket partnership with Ruben Turmpelmann who played the perfect foil, with occasional boundaries and clever rotation of the strike in his 25 not out of 24 balls.
Namibia needed 20 runs from the last two overs, but Zahoor Khan came up with a perfect penultimate over and conceded just six runs, cleverly mixing up his deliveries and bowling with cross-seam.
With the pressure getting to him, Wiese went for a big hit in the final over and holed out at the long-on boundary.
Earlier, Waseem slammed a composed 50 (41b; 1x4, 3x6) while skipper CP Rizwan remained unbeaten on 43 from 29 deliveries to take UAE to a fighting 148 for three after electing to bat.
They got off to a slow start with Vritya Aravind struggling to step up and getting dismissed for 21 from 32 deliveries.
But once Rizwan joined Waseem at the crease, runs started flowing.
After Waseem's departure, Basil Hameed (25 not out; 14 balls) provided the late push, scoring 33 runs in the last two overs, along with Rizwan who remained not out.
UAE skipper CP Rizwan said that the win is a great moment in the country's cricket and that he backed his instinct to bowl medium pacers with the dew.
"A great moment for UAE cricket. I would like to thank our coach and the management. We had been doing well in patches, but today everything clicked together. (On Waseem's bowling at the death) He used to bowl a lot of death overs in our domestic cricket, and with the dew, I backed my instinct of bowling medium pacers. This win is really big for UAE cricket, it can tell the world that we are here," said Rizwan in a post-match presentation.
