The UAE moved one step closer to reaching the Under-19 2018 World Cup in New Zealand after they outclassed Oman by 179-runs to qualify for the semi-finals of the Division Two qualifiers yesterday.
Having reached 243-7 in their 50 overs thanks to a superb unbeaten 84-run knock from Ali Mirza, Dom Telo’s troops showed their strength with the ball by bowling out their Gulf neighbours for just 64 inside 30 overs.
All-rounder Fahad Choudhary was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 5-8 while Oman’s Praythyosh Sivakumar (11) was the only batsman to reach double figures.
The result means the UAE will now play either Malaysia or Singapore in Wednesday’s last-four clash with the winner not only qualifying for the final but also December’s Division One tournament in Sri Lanka, where places are up for grabs for the showpiece tournament.
With Choudhary and Mirza both impressing for the UAE, it was the latter who earned the man-of-the-match award.
“It feels very good to get this award. Words cannot describe how I feel right now,” said the 16-year-old, who trains at Young Talents Cricket Academy.
“We knew it was an important game where we needed to win to have a chance of qualifying for the next stage. We lost some wickets early on but the plan was to just stay at the wicket and remain calm because I knew the runs would eventually come.
“Oman have some very good bowlers, especially their pacers, so we had to be at the top of our game.”
Having posted above 200 for the first time, Mirza hailed the bowling unit especially Choudhary’s effort.
“Fahad played really well and really showed he’s a talented cricketer,” he said. “He scored some runs as well and it was a very good performance by him.”
It was the third victory for Mirza and his team-mates with their only loss on Malaysian soil coming against group leaders Hong Kong. But it was the second time, the UAE batted first in their innings.
Having chased scores of 49, 38, while being restricted to 159 (against Hong Kong), Mirza admits the batsmen need to step up their game if they want to advance to the final on Thursday.
“That’s one area we still need to improve,” he said. “We haven’t been getting off the mark, as we’ve been scoring 20-25 runs, so we need to convert those scores into 50s and 60s.”
Earlier, Choudhary (25) and Ansh Tandon (21) gave the UAE a perfect start with a 38-run opening stand but both fell to Moshin Qureshi inside 13 overs.
Mirza frustrated Oman in his 102 deliveries but despite a promising start, the rest of the batsmen failed to score big with vice-captain Sachin Jha and Choudhary (both 25), the second highest run-scorers.
Chasing, the UAE were always on top with Choudhary leading the attack while skipper Yodhin Punja, Ethisham Saddique, Sushain Thapar and Palaniapan Meiyappan all took one scalp each.