Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan stole the show with his fourth five-wicket haul as his team overcame a top-order batting collapse to prevail over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a Super Six fixture of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 at the Old Hararians on Tuesday. Rashid Khan returned figures of 9-0-41-5 as the UAE, who won the toss and electing to bat first, were bowled out for 177 runs in 43 overs.

Afghanistan were in trouble in run-chase as they reduce to 54 for five before an unfinished 124-run sixth wicket partnership between the player of the match Gulbadin Naib and Najibullah Zadran helped them reach the target for the loss of five wickets. The victory in the 35th over also helped Afghanistan to narrow the gap with Ireland and the Windies on net run-rate, which will come into play if Scotland beat the West Indies on Wednesday, the UAE beat Zimbabwe on Thursday and Afghanistan beat Ireland on Friday will be the only hope for them.

The winner of Wednesday's match between the West Indies and Scotland will qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2019 and if Zimbabwe beat UAE on Thursday, then they will claim the second qualifying spot.

Rashid handed over the captaincy to a returning Asghar Stanikzai and immediately produced his best bowling performance of the tournament when he finished with five wickets for 41 runs. This lifted him to 96 wickets from 42 ODIs and the 19-year-old now has Mitchell Starc firmly within his sights. The Australia left-arm fast bowler had reached the 100-wicket milestone in 52 ODIs. This was the sixth encounter between the two sides and both are tied on three wins apiece.