The Afghan National Cricket has moved through to the semifinals of the Desert T20 Challenge after trumping hosts United Arab Emirates on Monday by five wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and reached to semifinal.

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bowl first.

After being asked to bat, UAE’s openers Mohammad Shahzad (13 in five) and Rohan Mustafa (29 in 19) started strongly, picking up 17 runs in the first over bowled by Dawlat, before the former was dismissed lbw by Fareed Ahmad.

Flying on the momentum, Mustafa continued to pile up boundaries and added 41 runs in 26 deliveries for the second wicket with Shaiman Anwar, who was more sedate in his approach. Before falling to Dawlat, Mustafa smashed four boundaries and a six to set a platform for the remaining batsmen, reported the ICC.

After leaking 91 runs in the first ten overs, Afghanistan managed to apply the brakes by picking up wickets. Dawlat returned to grab three wickets in his last two overs to end with 4 for 44.

Meanwhile, Anwar kept the scoreboard ticking over with a run-a-ball 52 before perishing in the last over, and UAE was restricted to 146 for 7.

Afghanistan's chase started poorly as it lost Mohammad Shahzad and Najeeb Tarakai, the openers, to Ahmed Raza (2-18) and Amjad Javed (1-10) respectively inside 15 deliveries.

But Asghar Stanikzai (30 in 24) and Samiullah Shenwari (42 in 44) mixed aggression with caution to put on 52 runs for the third wicket to bring Afghanistan back on track. But it was once again Raza, who provided the breakthrough for UAE when he knocked Stanikzai over in his second spell.

With the asking rate inching towards the ten-per-over mark, Shenwari upped the ante by striking two sixes to keep his side in contention before being caught behind off Mohammad Shahzad.

That, however, didn't affect Janat (22 in 18) and Najibullah Zadran (11 in five) as they struck 20 runs off Shahzad's 19th over to seal the match for Afghanistan with seven balls remaining to make it two in two for the team.