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Dubai: Defending champions UAE have reached the semifinals of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy with emphatic victories over Bahrain and hosts Malaysia on Tuesday.
"We are delighted at having reached the semifinals, especially after a bad start losing to Saudi Arabia in the first match," Mazhar Khan, the manager of the UAE team, told Gulf News from Kuala Lumpur.
"In the first match, the boys took it a little easy and learned a big lesson. They have subsequently put up good performances and we have finished on top of our group table. We will now meet the second placed team in group B."
The UAE started their push for a semifinal berth with an emphatic eight-wicket win over Bahrain on Monday. The hero of the match was vice captain and off-spinner Mohammad Tauqir, who picked four wickets for just 19 runs, to bowl out Bahrain for 122 runs in 33.3 overs.
UAE then beat Malaysia by 57 runs yesterday. Arshad Ali won the man of the match award for the second time in this tournament through a fine 67 off 103 balls. Ali had won the his previous honour against Afghanistan too for his knock of 67.
In the Bahrain match, Tauqir wrecked their middle order after Bahrain had reached 91 for 2. Zahid Shah chipped in with two wickets.
UAE reached the target in just 28 overs. Openers Arshad Ali and Mohammad Iqbal provided a good start putting on 68 runs. Iqbal fell for 32 but Ali remained not out with 46. Rameez Shehzad, who flew in for this match after his University examinations, remained unbeaten on 29 off 28 balls with three boundaries and two sixes. In the Malyasian clash, UAE piled up 211 runs in 42.2 overs.
Openers Iqbal and Ali once again provide a good start putting on 76 runs. Iqbal got clean bowled by Dinesh Muthuraman when he was seven short of his half century.
Saqib Ali (22) and skipper Khurram Khan (40) swelled the total before Dinesh Muthuraman restricted UAE through a spell of 6 for 39.
Malaysia got off to a bad start with Zahid Shah trapping opener Nasir Ali for 1, while Muthuraman got run out for 6. Shadeep Silva destroyed the middle order taking three wickets and Malaysia got bowled out for 154 runs.
The semifinal will be held on August 1.
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