Today's Edition
Kuumar Shyam (Dubai)
After the historic high, came the abysmal low for the fledgling cricketers of the UAE as the hosts went down in the Under 19 Asia Cup final to Bangladesh by 195 runs.
Friday saw everyone connected with the domestic cricket scene looking forward to a bright future when the UAE made history to beat Pakistan and reach the final at the Dubai International Stadium. Irrespective of what happened in the final against the much-experienced Bangladesh team, the boys had earned their badge considering the two finalists had been giant-killers in their own ways to knockout Pakistan and India in the semi-finals.
Yet, cometh the hour, the big-stage fright or lack of experience saw the UAE batsmen act like deer in the spotlight. The UAE captain Aayan Khan had won the toss and chose to field first. Put in to bat, the Bangladesh top order, under the supervision of their batting coach and former India opener Wasim Jaffer, had a solid start.
Despite losing his partner Jishan Alam early, opener Ashiqur Shibli provided the foundation for his team’s innings with a bedrock 129 which included 12 boundaries and one six.
Giving him company were Chowdhury Rizwan (60) and Ariful Islam (50), but a late flurry of wickets saw them fall short of the 300-run mark. They finished with 282 for eight. In the past, the UAE batsmen have failed to last the full quota of overs in one-day internationals. However, Aryansh Sharma and Akshat Rai just went into Test match mode despite a boundary coming off the second ball of the innings.
Then Sharma perished and Rai continued to hog the strike without troubling the scorers much. All of this meant, something had to give. And so when the players lost their wickets in trying to step up, the whole plan backfired spectacularly. The teenagers made it a procession soon and it ended with the UAE posting 87 runs on the board.
