IT WILL BE TOUGH TO BEAT US IN WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS, MUSTAFA SAYS
AE defeated Nepal by seven runs to clinch the ICC World Cricket League for the World Cup qualifiers in Windhoek yesterday.
UAE posted 277 for four in 50 overs, thanks to Ashfaq Ahmad’s brilliant 114 and a halfcentury from skipper Rohan Mustafa (51). Nepal replied with the same intensity with Paras Khadka scoring an unbeaten century. But his efforts went in vain as Nepal fell short by seven runs. Amir Hayat was the pick of UAE bowlers with a four-wicket haul.
On Wednesday, UAE staged a stupendous comeback from two successive defeats to clinch a place among top two teams for the World Cup qualifiers after beating hosts Namibia by 19 runs. After the win, Mustafa said UAE will be a tough team to beat in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup qualifiers to be held in Zimbabwe next month.
“We were almost out of the tournament after our two successive defeats three days ago but we staged a superb comeback. The way we have fought back shows that we will be a hard team to beat in the World Cup qualifiers,” Mustafa told Gulf News from Windhoek.
The UAE was virtually written off after just one victory over Kenya in the opening match and two successive defeats to Canada and Nepal by slender margins. The team then went on to beat Oman and Namibia. In the do-or-die battle against Namibia, the UAE who were put into bat first posted a challenging total of 247 for six with Shaiman Anwar, known as sixer ‘Sixer Shaiman’ for his aggressive batting style, cracking 77 runs off just 59 balls studded with three sixes and five boundaries.
Consistent show
UAE wicketkeeper Ghulam Shabber, who was the most consistent among all the batsmen in this tournament, chipped in with 44 runs and Mohammad Usman cracking a timely 59 runs off just 57 balls with two sixes and three boundaries. Rameez Shahzad’s stubborn 33 runs off 88 balls too proved to be a valuable knock.
To chase such a total needed a good start but Namibia was denied it by the UAE bowlers, After running out their opener Stephen Baard for 14, next man Niko Davin got clean bowled to Amir Hayat for one. Namibia wicketkeeper Zane Green got out caught and bowled by left-arm spinner Ahmad Raza for just six runs. Meanwhile, pacer Mohammad Naveed clean bowled a well set opener Lohandre Louwrens for 43. Though Craig Williams hit 54 runs and Merwe Erasmus scored 58 runs, Mustafa prevented any partnership to settle down by taking three wickets.
Namibia needed 28 runs from the last 14 balls but bowled them out for 228 runs in 49.4 overs.
Elaborating on the comeback of the UAE team from defeats, Mustafa said: “The boys deserve all the credit to this show as everyone chipped in at the right time. This performance has been such a morale booster that I am sure we will do much better in the World Cup qualifiers. It is our batting that refused to click that resulted in the two defeats but we will try and rectify it soon.