Emon shines as Tigers beat UAE in first T20I

Powered by Parvez Hossain Emon's maiden T20I ton, Bangladesh managed to beat the hosts UAE by 27 runs in the first of the two-match series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the series, with the final game scheduled to be played on Monday at the same venue.  

A 54-ball 100 from Emon, who reached the three-figure mark in 53 deliveries to become the fastest centurion in the format for Bangladesh, helped the Tigers post a commendable total of 191 for seven. 

UAE were on par with the required run rate almost halfway through the innings, but the Tigers bounced back with some quick wickets to bundle out the hosts for 164 in 20 overs. 

UAE skipper and opener Muhammad Waseem scored a 39-ball 54 and shared a 62-run third-wicket stand with Rahul Chopra, who scored 35 off 22 deliveries, to keep the hosts on track of a steep chase. 

Waseem was dismissed in the 12th over when Tanzim Hasan Sakib had him caught at short fine leg to give the Tigers a crucial breakthrough, breaking the crucial stand between him and Rahul. Sakib returned to pick up the wicket of Rahul as well in the 14th over, having the right-hander miscue a slower wide delivery into the hands of the backward point to leave UAE at 131 for four. 

However, some lusty blows by Asif Khan late in the game gave the hosts some hope. Asif smashed off-spinner Mahedi Hasan for three successive sixes in one over to spark hopes of their first-ever win over Bangladesh. UAE had now lost all four of their matches against the Tigers. 

But Asif could not complete the job as Hasan Mahmud removed the batter in the penultimate over after a blistering 21-ball 42-run knock that included four maximums and three boundaries. 

For Bangladesh, pacer Hasan took three wickets for 33 runs in four overs. Mustafizur Rahman was the most economical of all, picking up two wickets for 17 runs in his four overs.   

Earlier, Emon smashed a total of nine sixes and five fours during his blistering innings to become the Bangladeshi with the most sixes in a T20I innings. Rishad Hossain, who was not picked for today's game, previously held the record for hitting seven sixes against Sri Lanka in Sylhet last year. 

In total, Bangladesh hit 13 sixes in the innings -- also the highest for the Tigers, surpassing their previous best of 12 maximums against Sri Lanka in the Nidahas Trophy in 2018.