UAE miss out on Asia Cup on home soil

UAE lost the final but there was consolation for them as Ahmed Raza won the Man of the Series award.

As the UAE gets ready to host this continent's biggest cricket competition - the Asia Cup - in little less than a fortnight from now, the country, sadly, won't get to be a part of the action.

The UAE made a fist of it to try and rub shoulders yet again with Asia's elite, but they couldn't quite get past the line. The narrow defeat to Hong Kong in the final of the Asia Cup qualifier in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur would have definitely hurt and will rankle for a while, as it denied the hosts an entry into the tournament, which runs from September 15 to 28.

Instead, it will be Hong Kong, the tiny country southeast of China, who get their first-ever opportunity to mix it with Asia's big guns - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and new ICC Full Member Afghanistan, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The UAE had done just about everything right until now except for that blip to the very same opponents during the league phase of the qualifiers. But then, there was to be no poetic justice as they went down to their nemesis in a rain-marred final at the Kinrara Oval, a two-wicket loss by the Duckworth Lewis Method.

A margin of two wickets does not portray the full storyline and unlike the abject surrender in their previous meeting, the UAE did run Hong Kong close. Had medium pacer Amir Hayat managed to keep Scott McKechnie and Ehsan Nawaz quiet in the last over, things may have been different and the UAE could have made a third appearance at the Asia Cup after 2004 and 2016.

In the end, Hong Kong crossed the line with three deliveries to spare.

UAE captain Rohan Mustafa was gracious in defeat. "It was a big opportunity for everyone to show what they can do and congratulations to Hong Kong," said Mustafa.

"I think we batted really well especially when there was little chance to score 180 runs after the rain delay," he added. Meanwhile, his opposite number Anshuman Rath gave credit to the UAE for the way they fought hard. "Firstly, I would like to thank UAE for playing a tremendous game. The game got away from us that little period," said Rath. "The momentum was with them but we knew that if we kept our focus on batting that we'd get there," he added.

james@khaleejtimes.com