Dubai: India pulled off an exciting 13-run win over a spirited UAE team in front of a packed and vociferous crowd in the World Indoor Cricket Federation World Cup at the Insportz on Monday night. However, India could not maintain their winning momentum on Tuesday and lost to England by 45 runs while UAE produced an 88-run win over Singapore.
India’s victory over UAE virtually brought the roofs of the Insportz down through an exciting win. Anis Sajan, the mentor of the Indian team, talking about the encounter said: “Indian fans dressed in Indian jersey had converted the whole arena into a sea of blue. UAE, who were asked to field restricted India to just 39 runs in their 16 overs, which was a below par total.
“UAE were off to a flying start scoring 24 in their first four overs just requiring another 25 runs in 12 overs to win the game. India fought back and brought the score of UAE team to 31 in 15 overs and UAE needed 18 in the last over.
“However, umpire docked India for slow overrate and were penalised 10 runs, which means UAE required just 8 runs to win in 6 balls. UAE scored 4 in the first 3 balls but the Indian players kept their nerves and then a wicket fell, which meant UAE required 12 in two balls but they lost another wicket and lost the game by 13 runs.”
UAE captain Saqib Nazir said: “We took the UAE-India game as a normal game. We did brilliantly in the first half and we fielded well. Unfortunately, our batting didn’t click, and a bad 15 minutes cost us the game. We are taking each game as a knockout, and we will go all out to win every game we play from here on.”
Brief scores
India Open Men 39 (Mohammad Ahmad 12, Nadir Hussain 3 wkts) beat UAE Open Men 26 (Aqib Malek 15, Nihal Shilar 3 wkts). Player of the Match: Nihal Shilar India and Nadir Hussain (UAE).
England Open Men 103 (Anish Patel 20, Vijay Hanumantharayappa 1 wkt) beat India Open Men 58 (Mohammed Ahmed 12 Craig Elliot 3 wkts). Player of the Match: Craig Elliot, England
UAE Open Men 128 (Nadir Hussain 29, Sharan Swaminathan 2 wkts) beat Singapore Open Men (Rajiv Chandrashekhar 15, Isuru Umesh 4 wkts). Player of the Match: Nadir Hussain, UAE
New Zealand (Women) 128 (Melissa Hansen 21, Chaya Mughal 1 wkt) beat UAE 21 (W) (Humaira Tasneem 12, Amy Rendell 3 wkts). Player of the Match: Melissa Hansen, New Zealand
Australia (Women) 105 (Stacy Oates 21, Jenna Hambrook 1 wkts) beat South Africa (W) 8 (Nadine Moodley 10, Jude Coleman 5 wkts). Player of the Match: Jude Coleman, Australia
South Africa 21-under (W) 91 (Monique Ferreira 22, Samantha Short 2 wkts) beat England 21 -under (W) 88 (Emily Stanyard 21, Ash-Lee Tarr 2 wkts). Player of the Match: Emily Stanyard, England
Australia 21-under (W) 87 (Zeldine Barnard 15, Roshani Thuraisingham 2 wkts) beat New Zealand 21 -under (W) 82 (Makaylah Jones 13, Samantha Dixon, 2 wkts). Player of the Match: Adelaide Campion, Australia
Australia Open Men 78 (Benjamin Floros 16, Salman Faris 2 wkts) def. Sri Lanka Open Men 38 (Tharindu Mendis 15, Vinesh Bennett 3 wkts) Player of the Match: Benjamin Floros, Australia
