Malaysia outplays UAE in Twenty20

Dubai: UAE women's cricket team captain Charvi Bhatt and Shruti Pandey tried their best to record their first win in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Twenty20 Women's Championship but fell short by 27 runs to lose to hosts Malaysia on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 116 to win, Charvi and Shruti put on 58 runs for the third wicket. Charvi top scored with 26 runs while Shruti chipped in with 25 runs. Unfortunately they could not get much support from the rest of the batswomen and were restricted to 88 for 9.

"We could have won this match but for the 39 extras we gave away. Our bowlers found it hard to control the new ball," Mohammad Haider, the manager of the team, who is also one of the UAE's leading coaches, told Gulf News from Kuala Lumpur.

UAE restricted Malaysia to 109 for 5 in 20 overs despite the 39 extras, but also received a six-run penalty for slow over-rate. Luck deserted the UAE from the start, including the toss. Their star batswoman Natasha Michael, too, had to miss the match due to illness.

The UAE began well with Sneha Sankar clean bowling opener Christina Baret for 2 while Jesar Shah clean bowled Baret's partner Rewina Mohammad for 4. Malaysia would have been shot out for under 100 runs but for two-down batswomen, Arina Rahim, who hit 30 runs. UAE bowlers bowled 31 wides.

"Fitness is our drawback. We are finding it difficult to play back to back matches," Haider explained.

The UAE began their chase losing opener Veni Praveen, run out for 8 while her partner Meena Shankar fell for 4. Though Shruti and Charvi guided the team closer to the target, they fell at a crucial stage of the match.

The UAE now take on Oman on Sunday at the Selangor Turf Club ground.