On this day in 2023, the United Arab Emirates scripted history. In the second T20I of the series against New Zealand, they claimed a 7-wicket win to level the series 1-1. In the process, they registered their first-ever win against Kiwis across formats. The absence of some of the key players hurt the black caps as they allowed the UAE to beat them.
Batting first on a sluggish wicket, New Zealand managed to post just 142 runs in their 20 overs. Afzal Khan wreaked havoc with the new ball as he got three wickets in his first spell. He dismissed the likes of Mitchell Santner, and Cleaver to reduce NZ to a score of 27/3. Muhammad Jawad Ullah got the wicket of Tim Seifert. The Kiwis recovered decently from there thanks to a timely knock from Mark Chapman.
Despite not getting enough support from the other end, the Southpaw paced his innings with caution. In his stay in the middle, Chapman scored 63 runs in 46 balls which included 3 fours and sixes each. Bowes and James Neesham were handy with scores of 21 respectively. UAE bowled well collectively as a unit. The new ball duo of Ullah and Afzal were the pick of the bowlers who shared 5 wickets between them and conceded just 36 runs.
143 was not going to be an easy total. However, the UAE batters were up for the tricky task. Unlike the Black Caps, they adopted the aggressive approach right from the word go. The UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem led from the front with his explosive knock. In his stay in the middle, Waseem smashed 55 runs in just 29 balls. His knock included 4 fours and 3 sixes. By the time he was dismissed, enough damage was done.
Vriitya Aravind anchored the run chase from his end. He scored 25 runs in 21 balls before being dismissed. Asif Khan provided the finishing touches for UAE as he scored 48 runs in 29 balls. All of the Kiwi bowlers proved to be costly on a wicket like Dubai. While they claimed wickets in patches, the bowlers could not make a huge difference. It was the day of the UAE as they deserved to script history.