Pakistan made short work of an inexperienced UAE batting unit by winning their last group league game by 41 runs on Wednesday, to set up a much-anticipated Super 4s grudge match against India in the Asia Cup. The match started an hour late as Pakistan threatened a pull-out after the handshake fiasco during the previous game against India before Salman Agha`s team climbed down and showed up for the game.

It was Shaheen Shah Afridi, who first blasted an unbeaten 29 off 14 balls to prop up what still otherwise looked a modest total of 146 for 9. For Associate Nations, any score above 130 against Test playing countries become a tall order as the bowling quality improves vastly and UAE could finally manage only 105 in 17.4 overs. Afridi (2/16) was too hot to handle for Alishan Sharafu (12), who was played on. UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem (14) was dismissed while trying to fetch a widish leg-break from Abrar Ahmed (2/13 in 4 overs), himself moving towards leg-stump resulting to a brilliant running catch by Mohammed Nawaz.