ndian opener Harnoor Singh celebrates his century against the UAE in the Under-19 Asia Cup at the ICC Academy grounds in Dubai. Asian Cricket Council
ndian opener Harnoor Singh celebrates his century against the UAE in the Under-19 Asia Cup at the ICC Academy grounds in Dubai. Asian Cricket Council
ndian opener Harnoor Singh celebrates his century against the UAE in the Under-19 Asia Cup at the ICC Academy grounds in Dubai. Asian Cricket Council
ndian opener Harnoor Singh celebrates his century against the UAE in the Under-19 Asia Cup at the ICC Academy grounds in Dubai. Asian Cricket Council

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Cricket

India crush UAE by 154 runs in Under-19 Asia Cup opener

Pakistan and Sri Lanka also victorious in their games against Afghanistan and Kuwait

Amith Passela
Amith Passela

December 23, 2021

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The UAE fell to a heavy defeat in their Under-19 Asia Cup opener against India at the ICC Academy grounds in Dubai on Thursday

Six-time tournament winners India — who also shared the title once with Pakistan when the scores were tied in 2012 — ran out winners by a mammoth 154 runs.

Opener Harnoor Singh thumped 120 from 130 balls as his side racked up 282-5 after being put into bat, and then bowled out the hosts for 128 in 34.3 overs.

The UAE actually enjoyed an early breakthrough when captain Alishan Sharafu ran out of Angkrish Raghuvanshi for just two at the start of the third over.

Harnoor was then joined by Shaikh Rasheed and shared a 90-run stand for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the rest of the Indian batters.

Yash Dhull, the Indian captain, stroked a 68-ball 63 and Rajvardhan Hangargekar smashed a little cameo 23-ball 48 not out that included six fours and two sixes.

The UAE opener Kai Smith top scored for his side with 45 that contained six boundaries, with No 7 Soorya Sathish contributing the next highest with 21.

Hangargekar was the pick of the Indian attack, taking 3-24 off nine overs, while Garv Sangwan, Vicky Ostwal and Kaushal Tambe all grabbed two wickets each.

Also in Group A, Pakistan bowled out Afghanistan for just 52 but then made hard work of sealing a four-wicket victory.

Opening bowlers Ahmed Khan, Zeehsan Zameer and Awais Ali did the damage for Pakistan taking seven wickets between them to dismiss Afghanistan in 23.1 overs.

Pakistan, though, made a mess of their chase as they lost six wickets before opener Maaz Sadaqar (14 from 46 balls) steered them over the line in 16.4 overs.

In the Group B opener at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sri Lanka crushed Kuwait by 274 runs.

Openers Chamindu Wickramasinghe (54) and Shevon Daniel (54) put on 91 for the first wicket, before Pawan Pathiraja (86) and Ranuda Somarathne (60 not out) helped Sri Lanka post 323-5 off their 50 overs.

Dunith Wellalagetook four wickets and Sadisha Rajapaksa three as Kuwait were skittled out for 49 in 17.3 overs.

On Friday, India play Pakistan and the UAE face Afghanistan, both at the ICC Academy in Dubai. Bangladesh and Nepal play their opening Group B game in Sharjah.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Updated: December 23, 2021, 3:19 PM
India CricketUAEPakistan CricketSri Lanka Cricket