Dubai: The UAE rode on valuable contributions from opener Chirag Suri (67), newcomer Basil Hameed (63 not out) and Mohammad Usman (36 n.o.) for their only win of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-nation series on Sunday.
They pulled off a seven-wicket win over Scotland for the UAE’s last match of the tri-series as they had lost to USA in successive matches with an earlier match against Scotland being rained off.
The UAE restricted Scotland to 220 in 48.3 over through three wicket spells from Junaid Siddiqui and Rohan Mustafa.
They were well backed by 19-year-old leg spinner Karthik Meiyappan with two wickets.
Scotland had got off to a great start through their openers Matthew Cross and captain Kyle Coetzer.
They put on 138 runs in 27.4 overs. UAE skipper Ahmad Raza, well known for his skill to provide breakthrough, bowled Cross for 53.
In the 32nd over, Siddiqui picked up his first wicket by having George Munsey caught by Meiyappan for seven.
With the score on 170, Meiyappan took the prized wicket of Coetzer for 95.
When Meiyappan also removed Richie Berrington for a duck and Mustafa dismissed Calum Macleod for 17, Scotland lost the advantage of a good start.
From five down for 185, Dylan Budge hit a quick 24 runs to ensure Scotland go past the 200 run mark.
Chasing the challenging total, the UAE produced a good start with the Suri and 17-year-old Vriitya Aravind sharing 62 runs in 10.4 overs.
Aravind fell for 17 but 18-year-old Jonathan Figy hit 23 runs to take the score to 109 in 20 overs.
After Figy fell for 23, Suri, who played brilliantly to score 67 off 73 balls with five boundaries and six, departed.
The mantle of lifting UAE fell on the newcomer Basil Hameed and Mohammad Usman.
The took the score to a stage where 49 runs were needed in the last 14 overs. Hameed kept the scoreboard moving with good support from Usman and they put on an unbeaten 86 runs in 17.2 overs to ensure the victory with 37 balls to spare.