Afif Hossain and Shoriful Islam shine in Bangladesh's thrilling win over UAE

Bangladesh secured a thrilling comeback win against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first T20I match at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. UAE bowlers impressed while bowling first and restricted the visitors to just 158/5. But they fell just seven runs short while chasing a target and were bowled out on 151 runs in the last over.

UAE's captain Chundangapoyil Rizwan won the toss and elected to bowl first against the stronger Bangladesh side. This decision proved right as Bangladesh lost experienced opener, Sabir Rahman, on a duck on Sabir Ali's delivery in the second over. Aayan Khan dismissed the star batter Litton Das in the next over to give UAE a perfect start. Bangladesh's trouble continued with Mehidy Hasan Miraz's wicket in the fifth over and Yasir Ali's dismissal in the eighth over.

But Afif Hossain, the 23-year-old batting all-rounder, kept the scoreboard moving from another end with sensible cricket. He formed an unbeaten 81-run partnership with captain Nurul Hasan for the sixth wicket to help his team to put a fighting target of 159-run in 20 overs. He remained unbeaten on 77 runs off 55 balls and Nurul scored 35 runs off 25 balls. For UAE, young spinner Karthik Meiyappan took two wickets while conceding 33 runs in four overs.

Shoriful Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz defend for Bangladesh:

UAE lost their opener Muhammad Waseem on a run-out in the fourth over who scored 15 runs off 15 balls. The star batter Chirag Suri and Aryan Lakra formed a crucial 39-run partnership for the second wicket to keep UAE on track in their chase. The experienced spinner Hasan Miraz dismissed both Suri and Lakra in the eighth and tenth over to get Bangladesh back in the game.

The 16-year-old debutant, Aayan Afzal Khan smashed 25 runs off 17 balls to keep UAE alive in the chase. He and Junail Siddique formed a big 27-run partnership for the ninth wicket to guide UAE to closer to the target. UAE needed 11 runs off the last six balls but Sohoriful dismissed both Aayan and Junail on back-to-back deliveries to secure a thrilling seven-run win for Bangladesh. Shoriful and Hasan Miraz took three wickets each but Afif won the player of the match award for his 77* knock.