Scotland defeat UAE, secure spot in T20 World Cup

Scotland cricket team qualified for the T20 World Cup after they defeated the UAE by 90 runs in the qualifiers here on Wednesday.

Chasing a massive target of 199, the UAE had a poor start as Chirag Suri was dismissed in the very first over of the innings. The other opener, Rohan Mustafa, was also sent back to the pavilion in the third over.

Rameez Shahzad and Darius D'Silva then took the field and played cautiously. Shahzad played a knock of 34 runs before he gave away an easy catch to George Munsey in the ninth over.

The UAE utterly failed to form a good partnership after that and kept on losing wickets. After the completion of 14 overs, they were reduced to 86/7 and in the 19th over, they were all out on 108 runs.

Earlier, after electing to bat first, Scotland got off to a brilliant start as openers George Munsey and Kyle Coetzer kept on smashing boundaries. Munsey completed his half-century but soon after that, the partnership was broken as Junaid Siddique dismissed Coetzer (34).

Ahmed Raza then ended Munsey's 65-run innings in the 14th over. After the completion of 14 overs, Scotland were at 119/2. Richie Berrington played scintillatingly as he scored 48 runs off just 18 balls to help his side post a massive target.

Brief scores: Scotland 198/6 (George Munsey 65, Richie Berrington 48). UAE 108 (Rameez Shahzad 34, Muhammad Usman 20).