The future for Pakistan cricket arrived as two young batters put UAE to the sword at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The tourists landed in the Emirates two weeks ago surrounded by swirling debate over the dropping of two star batters, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Instead, they had put their faith in youth for the 2025 Asia Cup, as well as the tri-series involving Afghanistan and the UAE which precedes it.
They have won no trophies yet, and there will be bigger tests to follow. But on the evidence of their opening two nights in Sharjah, it is so far, so good.
If the “RizBar” partnership was shelved because of its sedate scoring rate, then two youngsters showed how it should be done.
Saim Ayub and Hasan Nawaz each hit half-centuries against the UAE on Saturday. They did so at strike-rates of 181.57 and 215.37 respectively. It set Pakistan up for a comfortable 31-run win.
Ayub had made 69 from 38 balls, which accounted for nearly 70 per cent of his side’s runs at the point he was dismissed.
It required a leg-side strangle to dislodge him. Saghir Khan, the UAE all-rounder, strayed beyond his pads, and Ayub only just reached it. But the left-hander just managed to feather a catch to a diving Rahul Chopra, the wicketkeeper.
Ayub might be a mere 23 years old, but his talent has been vaunted for some while. At the DP World International League T20 at the start of this year, for example, Fakhar Zaman touted his young colleague as having the potential to become one of the top three batters in the world.
Nawaz, by contrast, is little known beyond Pakistan’s borders as yet, despite having a century and a 50 to his name already in the handful of T20Is he had played previously to this one.
On this evidence, though, he has huge potential. Also 23, he razed the UAE bowling attack with six crisp sixes in his innings of 56 from 26 balls.
It felt as though he was about to do something unforgettable when he took Haider Ali, UAE’s left-arm spinner, for successive sixes off the first three balls of his fourth over.
Haider will have been nervous about being on the end of six in a row, but he had the last laugh, as he had Nawaz caught at the wicket off the fourth.
The duo were the pillars on which Pakistan amassed a total of 207 all out from their 20 overs.
After comfortably beating Afghanistan the night before, Pakistan rested their two fastest and best known bowlers against the lower-ranked of the sides in the tri-series.
Even without Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi, the challenge of scoring at more than 10 per over in the run chase against Pakistan was always going to be tough for the home side.
Initially, they offered up some spiky resistance. Predictably, it was led by Muhammad Waseem. While the UAE captain was at the crease, the national team felt there was a chance.
The chase crumbled within the space of two balls. First, Waseem was run out for 33 after a mix up with Ethan D’Souza.
The 19-year-old left-hander from Abu Dhabi will have been distraught at his role in the dismissal, and will have felt he owed his side.
And yet D’Souza, who had earlier taken a brilliant boundary catch, was out off the next delivery as he clipped a catch off Hasan Ali down the leg side to Mohammed Haris, the wicketkeeper.
Although it was forlorn, Asif Khan at least railed against the inevitable. The middle-order batter provided some of the most ferocious hitting of the night on his way to a 25-ball half century.
It included putting one ball onto the majlis roof on top of the North West Stand, and two more into the road which runs parallel to the stadium.
He was out in the last over and was cheered to the echo for the entertainment his 35-ball innings of 77 provided.
