T20 World Cup: UAE boosts Super 8s hopes with win over Canada thanks to half-centuries from Aryansh Sharma and Sohaib Khan while

Aryansh Sharma hit an unbeaten 74 as the United Arab Emirates boosted their distant hopes of qualifying for the T20 Super 8s World Cup with a tense five-wicket win over Canada.

Canada looked well placed to defend their score of 150-7 with four overs remaining, but Sohaib Khan reignited the UAE’s chase when he edged Dillon Heliger by 17 runs.

UAE needed eight runs before the final over and Sharma calmed his nerves after hitting Jaskaran Singh’s first ball for six over mid-wicket.

Khan was then caught – after 51 off 29 balls, including two fours – with the scores level.

But new batsman Mohammad Irfan carelessly disputed Singh for four to seal the win with two balls remaining as Sharma top-scored with a knock of 53 balls.

The UAE now sits third in Group D with two points, but the associate nation must pull off shock wins over full members South Africa and Afghanistan next week to reach the next stage.

They have never beaten a full World Cup member in any way, but they will take some confidence from the way they chased down that tally.

Earlier, Junaid Siddique had the best figures by an Emirati player in a T20 World Cup with 5-35 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Harsh Thakur, who hit three sixes and two fours in his half-century off 41 balls, was the backbone of Canada’s total.

He shared a 58-run partnership with Navneet Dhaliwal to help the Canadiens recover from 38-3 before the latter was run out in the 34th.

Thacker fell victim to Siddique’s slower ball with 14 balls remaining and Canada struggled to find boundaries in the face of some tight bowling by UAE.

Shreyas Movva made a usually useful run-ball 21 before Siddique took two wickets in the final over to collect his first five-wicket haul in T20 internationals.