T20 World Cup: Rashid Khan takes extraordinary 700th wicket in T20 as Afghanistan beat UAE by five wickets

Rashid Khan claimed his 700th T20 wicket in unusual circumstances as Afghanistan kept their faint World Cup hopes alive with a five-wicket win over the United Arab Emirates.

The leg-spinner achieved the feat through a style of dismissal not seen in any of his previous 699 victims – hitting the wicket.

UAE batsman Mohammad Irfan tried to reverse a delivery from the Afghanistan captain in the 15th over but ended up clipping the stumps with his bat.

The wicket was Rashid’s 191st in T20 internationals and along with a domestic T20 list of 509 victims helped him become the first player to achieve the feat.

This is the only time out of 11,794 balls bowled in T20 cricket that the 27-year-old has taken a wicket in this manner.

Rashid finished with 1-24 from his four overs while Azmatullah Omarzai was the pick of the Afghan bowlers with 4-15 as UAE were restricted to 160-9 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Sohaib Khan hit six fours and four sixes to top scores for the UAE with a 48-ball 68 while Alishan Sharafoo scored 40 off 31 balls.

Afghanistan lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck but fellow opener Ibrahim Zadran composed 53 off 21 balls that went into the net.

Mohammad Irfan took 2-30 for UAE to slow Afghanistan’s response but Umarzai was the main man for Afghanistan in the remainder of the chase.

The all-rounder continued his impressive display with the ball as he struck an unbeaten 40 off 21 balls with the bat as Afghanistan crossed the line with four balls to spare.

Afghanistan’s win earned them their first points in Group D, but they must beat New Zealand, who are two points above them, in their final match and ensure their net average beats the national team and the UAE.

The UAE also has two points and the associated nation must emerge victorious from its final match against South Africa and ensure its net run rate beats both New Zealand and Afghanistan.