ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 28: Afghanistan vs United Arab Emirates | Preview and Predictions

After a double Super Over heartbreak for Afghanistan in their previous game against South Africa, Rashid Khan’s boys are going to look to put that heartbreaking loss behind them and get themselves back on the points board when they take on the United Arab Emirates.

Here, we present our preview and predictions for the 28th game of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 between Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 28: AFG vs UAE | 11:00, February 16, 2026

Despite coming agonisingly close to pulling off an incredible win against South Africa and soaking in the applause from the world cricket community, Afghanistan are in a spot of both, having lost both their games so far in the World Cup and desperately need to get on the board if they even want to stand an outside chance to make the Super 8s.

Afghanistan’s biggest issue this World Cup has been their bowling. Against New Zealand, despite picking up two quick wickets, the bowlers weren’t able to capitalise and it saw the Kiwis get to an above-par score and in a similar manner against the Proteas, the Afghani bowlers picked up a crucial early wicket of Aiden Markram and failed to put pressure as South Africa ran away with the innings. Afghanistan has a stellar spin attack consisting of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mihammad Nabi and Noor Ahmad and Khan will expect more from his spin bowlers. The seamers of Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai have been leaking runs and it is something the Afghanistan camp will hope to fix before their game against the UAE. Afghanistan have crossed 180 with the bat in both games but mainly due to a single batter stepping up. It was Gulbadin Naib against New Zealand and it was Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s near-classic 84 against Proteas that almost got them over the line. The rest of the top and middle order are yet to get substantial scores and Rashid Khan will be expecting his batters to step in conditions which are close to their home conditions. 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) meanwhile had a match to forget against New Zealand, as they lost by 10 wickets to Kiwis. The UAE put up a commendable performance with the bat with Muhammad Waseem and Alishan Sharafu’s half centuries getting them to 173/6 but they were smashed all over the park by Tim Seifert and Finn Allen. Waseem and Sharafu are two of UAE’s top batters and getting runs under their belt early on in the tournament will be key for the team but captain Waseem will hope that the remainder of the batting unit also steps up. The bowling didn’t have much to show for as they were demolished by the New Zealand openers but Haider Ali was the standout bowler, impressing with the new ball. 

The Delhi pitch is known to assist the spinners while bringing about some runs. Given their superior squad strength and stronger spin attack, we have Afghanistan as the favourites to take the win in this encounter. 

Fantasy XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk + vc), Ibrahim Zadran, Alishan Sharafu, Muhammad Waseem, Gulbadin Naib, Mayank Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Haider Ali, Muhammad Arfan

Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

Winners Prediction: Afghanistan