Sharjah Following the UAE’s thrilling victory over Bangladesh in the T20I series, captain Muhammad Waseem praised the team’s attitude in the locker room. This is just the second time the UAE has won a T20I series against a Full Member; the first was in 2021, when they triumphed 2-1 against Ireland.

The UAE was given additional motivation after losing 1-0 on Saturday when the two countries decided to play a third match in what was initially planned to be a two-match T20I series.

With the help of an undefeated 87-run partnership from only 51 balls between Sharafu and Asif Khan, the UAE completed the comeback on Wednesday night, chasing down Bangladesh’s 162 in the match’s last over.

The host team’s inexperience—naming five uncapped players before to the series—makes the series victory even more impressive. Captain Waseem, who also won Player of the Series, praised the team.

At the broadcast, Waseem said, “(I’m) very happy they did very well throughout the series.” We were giving everyone optimism and we weren’t giving up. We are used to chasing every score in Sharjah or against every team. Sincerely, I’m very content.

“I’m thrilled that we’ve created history. For us, this series is really important. It will be extremely beneficial to us in the future. And I’m rather pleased with the lads’ performance.

Rahul Chopra, Alishan (Sharafu), Haider (Ali), Asif (Khan), and the other bowlers’ performances. ICC cited Waseem as saying, “I’m really pleased with the performance of my entire team.”

As the required rate rose over 10, Sharafu (68 not out from 47 balls) and Asif (41 not out from 26) remained methodical, taking many hits from Bangladesh’s pace attack and alternating between back-end singles and boundaries. The duo pushed the home team ahead with three sixes in the 16th over, and Sharafu finished with a boundary to top off a Player of the Match display, according to the ICC.

Sharafu limited his response to one or two tactical and technical elements when questioned about his offensive strategy. “Going out there and playing as many balls as you could was the basic strategy. In the end, everything simply fell into place. It’s all about the steps. This is simply something I do on a regular basis to get me going and get to the ball. However, there was no clear strategy for it.

During the post-match interview, the all-rounder said, “As soon as he (Asif) came in, it was quite simple to just keep the scoreboard ticking and look for the odd boundary, and just keep rotating strike, for starters.”

Everyone is undoubtedly excited (in the dugout). Everyone in the locker room was hopeful that we may take a 2-1 lead in the series after the announcement of that third game. And after that, I believe everything simply fell into place for us,” he said.