Dubai. UAE’s Vikrant Shetty, who has sparkled in outdoor international matches, produced a sterling performance against England in the World Indoor Cricket Federation World Cup at Insportz. He gifted the UAE a stunning one-run win by top scoring with a fighting 22 runs, backed by former UAE opener Ramveer Rai who sparkled as a bowler with two wickets and zero runs conceded.
It was a special day for the UAE as this team making their debut in World Cup could notch up their first win in the World Cup.
A delighted UAE skipper Saqib Nazir expressing his joy at the 80-79 score line in the end, said: “Finally we have a win, it took a long time to come, and it’s sweet. I think playing the top three teams gave us an extra boost, we did pretty well against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and that was really important for us.”
Nazir is now eyeing a semi-final slot. “The plan ahead is to win all the games. If we want to qualify to the semis we have to win from here on. We don’t want to depend on other teams. It is the first victory for the UAE and I hope we get many more after this.”
In another match, nine-time defending champions Australia defeated India 84-5. After the win, Australian skipper Lyle Teske even predicted that UAE may reach semi-final, “I think after this win, there is every chance they (UAE) can make it to the top four. They (UAE) are a good side and they keep getting better. The more they play against quality opposition, the better they will get.”
England skipper Anish Patel also hailed the UAE team. “All credit to the UAE side, there was some good bowling and they fielded well in the last couple of overs to stop those two runs.”
Brief scores:
UAE Men 80 (Vikrant Shetty 22, Mubeen Rashid 4 wkts) bt England Men 79 (Luke Gunn 19, Ramveer Rai 2 wkts) Player of the match: Vikrant Shetty.
Australia Men 84 (Rhys Deamess 16, Suraj Reddy 1wkt) bt India Men 5 (Vijay Hanumantharayappa 14, Lyle Teske 3 wkts) Player of the Match: Lyle Teske.
England 21-under (M) 150 (Luke Hollman 31, Kabeer Imtiaz 31, Kothai Aravinda 1wkt) bt Singapore 21 — under (M) 54 (Guruprasad 20, Oliver Green 2 wkts) Player of the Match: Luke Hollman.
New Zealand 21-under (M) 77 (Mitchell Rush 17, Dylan Jones 2 wkts) bt South Africa 21 — under (M) 44 (Danie Bothma 14, Mame Welthagen 14, Daniel Rose 4 wkts) Player of the Match: Mitchell Rush.
Australia 21-under (W) 98 (Zeldine Barnard 17, Kelsey Mostert 1 wkt) bt South Africa 21 — under (W) -19 (Ash-Lee Tarr 7, Samantha Dixon 6 wkts): Player of the Match: Samantha Dixon.
New Zealand 21-under (W) 113 (Lucy King 28, Sophie Williamson 2 wkts) bt England 21 — under (W) 55 (Hollie Stannard 18, Lucy King 2 wkts) Player of the Match: Lucy King
Australia Women 82 (Krystal Oppermann 20, Regina Lillii 2 wkts) bt New Zealand Women 53 (Lucille Matthews 13, Kyle Rattray 3 wkts) Player of the Matc: Krystal Oppermann.
South Africa Women 109 (Rozanne Cloete 24, Katie Winterton 2 wkts) bt England Women 86 (Niki Patel 16, Nadine Moodley 2 wkts) Player of the Match: Rozanne Cloete.
New Zealand Men 147 (Victor Davies 34, Tameem Latheef 1 wkt) bt. Singapore Men -8 (Venugopal Swamy 18, Robert Sheary 4 wkts) Player of the Match: Matthew Henderson.
South Africa Men 139 (Donovan Vuren 24) bt Malaysia -7 (Sharvin Moniandy 12, Willie Brink 4 wkts) Player of the Match: Willie Brink.
