New Delhi: Riding on Aryansh Sharma’s unbeaten 74 and Sohaib Khan’s blistering 51, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) pulled off a five-wicket win over Canada in their Group D clash of the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.
Earlier, on a used pitch, Junaid Siddique’s five-wicket haul restricted Canada to 150/7, setting up a contest that swung dramatically before Aryansh and Sohaib shared a match-defining 84-run stand to seal UAE’s first win of the competition.
UAE slipped to 66/4 in the chase of 151, but Aryansh held firm at one end even as Canada’s spinners tightened their grip through the middle overs. With the required rate climbing, Sohaib’s arrival changed the momentum. He launched four sixes and four boundaries in a blistering counterattack, while adding 84 runs with Aryansh off just 42 balls.
Sharma anchored the chase with measured strokeplay, finishing unbeaten from 53 deliveries, hitting six fours and three sixes. But Sohaib’s aggression rattled Canada’s bowlers in the closing overs and turned the game around for the UAE.
Veteran all-rounder Saad Bin Zafar was the standout for Canada with figures of 3-14, but his efforts were not enough to prevent the UAE’s late surge. The victory underlined the UAE’s batting depth beyond their senior pros, skipper Muhammad Waseem and Alishan Sharafu, as Aryansh and Sohaib stepped up to secure the win with two balls to spare.
Brief scores: Canada 150/7 in 20 overs (Harsh Thaker 50, Navneet Dhaliwal 34; Junaid Siddique 5-35, Muhammad Jawadullah 1-16) lost to UAE 151/5 in 19.4 overs (Aryansh Sharma 74 not out, Sohaib Khan 51; Saad Bin Zafar 3-14, Kaleem Sana 1-29) by five wickets. IANS
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