Vriitya Aravind is only 19 years old. He is missing university lectures to play for UAE at the T20 World Cup Qualifier in Oman. It must be hoped he has years of representative cricket for the country left in him.
In which case, Ahmed Raza, the national team captain, is going to need a thesaurus. “I don’t have any more superlatives for him now,” Raza said after the teenage wicketkeeper dragged UAE into the Qualifier semi-finals via a dramatic final pool-match against Bahrain. “He is just a special kid.”
On Tuesday, the national team will go up against familiar rivals Nepal. The winners will earn a place in the final of the eight-team qualifier. More importantly, victory carries with it a place at the World Cup in Australia in October.
Right up until the final over of their run-chase against Bahrain, their unheralded Gulf neighbours, it appeared as though their hopes of a trip to the big show had been extinguished.
With six balls left of their final pool game, they needed 27 to win. More vitally, they required 12 to get them into the last four, with their student wicketkeeper on strike.
Aravind laced the first two balls from Shahid Mahmood for four. He scurried two with Mohammed Usman off the third. Then progress was sealed off the next.
“I wasn’t looking at the 12 - I was trying to win the game,” Aravind said of his final-over game plan.
“I felt like I played a bit too slow, which was why the team was in this situation. So I was thinking, 'Let me try and win this for the team'. It went six, four, double, and there was two centimetres in it at the end.”
Had the last ball not been hauled in by the boundary fielder, it would have gone to a Super Over. As it was, Bahrain won by two, but UAE still advanced.
“That was one of the most intense games I’ve ever played,” said Aravind, who finished on 84 not out from 52 balls.
“Our whole qualification dream was on this game. We had to win. I’m not happy because we lost, but we live to fight another day now. Hopefully, [Tuesday] is our day.”
Aravind is the leading run-scorer in the tournament so far, with 221 runs at a strike-rate of 149.32.
“The form he has shown over the past few weeks has been amazing,” captain Raza said.
“He was pretty gutted he couldn’t get us over the line. He realises that, and he is only a 19-year-old kid. He is going to learn from this.
“Some of the options he took in the middle overs, he might not do in the future. At the end, he nearly got us over the line. He played brilliantly.”
Defeat meant UAE were beaten to top spot in the group by Ireland, who were comfortable winners over Germany on the adjacent field at the Oman Cricket Academy. The Irish face hosts Oman in the semi-finals.
Nepal are the only unbeaten side left in the tournament, after they easily overcame Canada by eight wickets in their afternoon game.
UAE and Nepal have met four times in T20 internationals, with wins divided evenly between them. They met as recently as Saturday, February 12, when UAE won a warm-up match before this tournament by 25 runs.
Sandeep Lamichhane, who was named player-of-the-match against Canada after he took three for 12 from his four overs of leg-spin, is satisfied with his side’s form ahead of the decisive fixture.
“The best is yet to come from all the boys,” Lamichhane, Nepal’s captain, said.
“It is about one more big effort from the boys [on Tuesday]. Everyone is pumped up. It has been a very good journey in the round-robin games.
“We are just looking forward to it. Whoever copes best with the pressure and adjusts to the conditions will be the winner.”
Pictures from the T20 clash between the UAE and Bahrain can be seen in the gallery above. To view the next image, click on the arrows or swipe if on a mobile device.
