UAE beats Japan to enter ACC Trophy semifinals

The UAE entered the semifinals of the ACC Trophy with an emphatic six-wicket victory over Japan at the Dubai Cricket Council ground yesterday. The victory helped UAE finish on top of Group B.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Japan were bundled out for 95 in 38.1 overs. Off-spinner Mohammed Tauqir wrecked the Japanese batting line-up with a deadly spell of 10-4-10-6.
Talking to Gulf News after his career-best performance, Man of the match Tauqir said, "I am delighted with my performance today. I had taken five wickets against Nepal in the previous ACC Trophy but I have bettered my performance today. This is the second time I am picking six wickets. In the domestic tournament I had once picked six wickets against Al Khabber in the Bukhatir league."

Tauqir, a UAE national who works in the head office of ABN Amro Bank, was attracted to the game while studying at Sharjah College. "I started off right away as an off-spinner. I improved my bowling owing to the guidance of Bashir Golandaz, Champaka Ramanayake and Mushtaq Mohammed."
Tauqir, also the vice captain of the side, has played in previous ACC tournaments in Kuala Lumpur and Nepal. "I have so far picked up nine wickets from this tournament. I hope to do better in the semifinals, " he said.

The UAE got off to a breezy start. Openers Asim Saeed and Babar Malik put on 63 runs for the opening wicket before both of them fell to the bowling of Ken Wadano. Tomohiro Amino who bowled a tight line and length picked up two quick wickets of Kashif Khan and Meraj Khaliq. However, Danish Jabbar (13 n.o.) and Nasir Siddiqui (9 n.o) steered to the team to victory.

"The bowlers have done a good job. We hope to do even better in the semifinals. If we can continue to play positive cricket and work harder we should do better," said UAE skipper Saeed Al Saffar.

Brief scores:
Japan 95 all out in 38.1 overs (Mohammed Tauqir 6 for 10, Meraj Khaliq 2 for 17) lost to UAE 98 for 4 in 21 overs (Asim Saeed 25, Babar Malik 30, T. Amino 2 for 40, Ken Wadano 2 for 18).

Sharjah. Kiran Agarwal (91, 130 balls, three fours) single handedly won the last league match for Nepal even as they stuttered to get past Maldives total of 191.
Batting first, Maldives benefited from dropped catches and 14 wides to post a respectable score. A whirlwind 74-run partnership between I. Nadeem (38, 27 balls, four sixes) and A. Samad (42, 35 balls, one four, three sixes) provided entertainment to fans at the Sharjah Stadium.
Maldives fielders also proved butterfingered as they dropped about a dozen catches and Agarwal was rock-solid to guide Nepal through in the 49th over.

Summarised scores: Maldives lost to Nepal by five wickets. Maldives 191 for 8 in 50 overs (Moosa Kaleem 35, Ismail Nadeem 38, A. Samad 42, Jay Prakash Sharraf 3-50) Nepal 192 for 5 in 48.5 overs (Kiran Agrawal 91, Sanjeev Joshi 21, Pawan Agarwal 20, Ganesh Sahi 21) Man-of-the-Match: Kiran Agarwal.