Mohammad Shahzad struck his first half-century of the tournament as the UAE kept their World Twenty20 qualification hopes alive with a five-wicket victory over Canada.

Chasing 133 in a rain-hit match in Stirling, Scotland, the all-rounder hit two boundaries and three sixes in his 56-run knock, while Swapnil Patil (27no) scored the winning runs as their team reached their target with five balls to spare.

Knowing that anything less than a victory would see them eliminated, the UAE players gave their best performance of the qualifying tournament with captain Mohammad Tauqir, Manjula Guruge, Nasir Aziz and Rohan Mustafa claiming two wickets each.

It was the first win for the UAE following defeats to Scotland, Afghanistan and Netherlands and Tauqir’s side sit sixth with two points in Group B. The UAE are in the same scenario as before and must win today’s encounter with Kenya and Oman on Friday to have any hope of claiming one of the top four spots to advance to the next stage.

The UAE got off to a strong start as Guruge and Aziz removed openers Ruvindu Gunasekera (0) and Rizwan Cheema (5) as Canada struggling were struggling at 2-5 in the first over.

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Hiral Patel (45) and Nitish Kumar put on 58 for the third wicket before the latter was removed by Tauqir. Patel soon followed after he became Mustafa’s first scalp and despite Navneet Dhaliwal’s unbeaten 39, the Canadians struggled against the UAE bowlers, who eventually posted 132-9 in their 20 overs.

The UAE didn’t get off to the best of starts with opener Faizan Asif (3) sent back to pavilion by Cecil Pervez. Mustafa (11) and Shahzad piled on the runs but their 25-run stand was broken as Mustafa became Kumar’s only scalp.

Shaiman Anwar could only contribute with 17 before being trapped by Saad Bin Zafar. After Shahzad and Umair Ali were dimissed, Patil and Abdul Shakoor (18) took responsibility and saw the team home in the 19th over.