Delhi: United Arab Emirates (UAE) beat Canada by five wickets to register their first win in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday.
Chasing a target of 151, the UAE team reached the score with the loss of 5 wickets in the final over thanks to a brilliant partnership between Aryansh Sharma and Sohaib Khan.
Opener Aryansh Sharma scored 74 runs off 53 balls including 6 fours and 3 sixes. Sohaib Khan supported him with a 29-ball 51 with 4 fours and 4 sixes.
In a tense finish, Muhammad Arfan came to the crease with just one run needed from three balls to seal the victory with a boundary.
Earlier, UAE captain Muhammad Wasim was dismissed cheaply for 4 off 8 balls by Kaleem Sana, while Alishan Sharaf managed just 5 off 13 balls to fall to Saad Bin Jaffer.
Canada’s Saad Jaffer struck twice more, dismissing Mayank Kumar and Harshid Kaushik for four and five runs respectively, to put pressure on the UAE innings.
A match-winning partnership between Sharma and Khan swung the game in UAE’s favour.
Saad Bin Zafar finished with impressive figures of 3/14 from four overs for Canada, with Jaskaran Singh and Kaleem Sana picking up a wicket each.
Batting first, Canada struggled to build partnerships as Siddiqui wreaked havoc with the ball. Harsh Thacker scored a top score of 50 off 41 balls including 2 fours and 3 sixes before falling to Siddique.
Navneet Dhaliwal scored 34 off 28 balls with 4 fours but was run out by Mohammad Urban.
Shreyas Mowwa added 21 runs off 21 balls including 2 fours before Siddiqui sent him back to the pavilion. Other Canadian batters failed to make significant contributions.
Opener Yuvraj Samra and skipper Dilpreet Bajwa were Siddiqui’s first two scalps with 5 and 11 respectively.
Nicholas Kirton scored 4 runs off 6 balls before being dismissed by Muhammad Javadullah while Jaskaran Singh remained unbeaten on 4 runs. Dillon Heiliger ended the innings with a six off the last ball.
For the UAE, Junaid Siddiqui was impressive with 5/35 from four overs, with Muhammad Jawadullah supporting a wicket.