CRICKET POLL

May 17

UAE vs Bangladesh, 1st T20I

Parvez Hossain Emon's maiden international hundred set up Bangladesh's 1-2 series lead in Sharjah with a 27-run victory over the hosts UAE. In an exceptional display of brute force, Emon struck nine sixes and another four boundaries in his 54-ball century - in just his eighth T20I for the country - as he single-handedly took Bangladesh to a challenging total of 191/7. Muhammad Jawadullah was the pick of the bowlers with an exceptional 4/21 as none of the other Bangladeshi batters managed to cross 20.

In the chase, despite losing two PowerPlay wickets, the hosts were well on course at the halfway mark courtesy the 62-run stand between skipper Muhammad Waseem (54 off 39) and Rahul Chopra (35 off 22) before the guile and experience of Bangladeshi bowlers came to the fore in the secon-half of their defence. Asif Khan, who replaced Waseem in the middle in the 12th over, struck a hat-trick of sixes against Mahedi Hasan to take UAE to 131/3 after 13 - comfortably ahead of the asking rate. However, Tanzin Sakib struck for the second time in as many overs to take out a set Chopra as well and trigger a collapse. Mustafizur Rahman gave away only seven in his final two overs, and Mahmud picked the third key wicket of Asif right after to curb any UAE hopes of a late comeback. Mahedi picked two in the final over to cap off an expensive spell at 2-55, but more importantly, keeping UAE to just 164 in reply.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 191/7 in 20 overs (Parvez Hossain Emon 100; Muhammad Jawadullah 4-21)beat UAE164 in 20 overs (Muhammad Waseem 54, Asif Khan 42; Hasan Mahmud 3-33, Mustafizur Rahman 2-17) by 27 runs