Given the gloom that has pervaded the senior men’s UAE cricket team of late, a new dash of colour and can-do spirit should be embraced keenly.
On his first tour with the senior side, Aryansh Sharma is already providing both. The 18-year-old wicketkeeper-batter served 12th-man duties with all the eagerness you might expect of a teenaged trialist, in UAE’s loss against Papua New Guinea in the opening match of their tour to Kathmandu on Friday.
His mint-green boots provide the sparkle. And his enthusiasm to make an impression is just as vivid.
Sharma does not know whether he will get the chance to play in the vital Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series, but he is grateful to be in with a shout.
Last week, he was part of the UAE side who missed out on qualification for the Under 19 World Cup after a thrilling, if ultimately heartbreaking, game against Nepal in Ajman.
He found out he was set to tour Nepal with the senior team after making a half-century against Singapore in that event.
“It felt amazing because I was the only guy from the U19 side this time who made it into the men’s team,” Sharma said.
“It was overwhelming, and I would like to get a debut game for the team as well now. If I get that, I will try to perform my best.
“I had some nerves but then we had a team meeting and all my new teammates were very friendly with me. From that time onwards I have felt very confident.
“Since then I am just hoping that we win and hopefully we can do well in the series.”
Their start was a poor one. The national team suffered a third consecutive defeat to PNG in the space of two weeks when they went lost out at Tribhuvan University.
They face Nepal at the same venue on Sunday knowing they have to win that, as well as the remaining two games which follow, to safeguard their one-day international status.
Anything less will mean having to vie for that right with PNG, Jersey and Canada at the World Cup Qualifier Play-off in Namibia later this month.
Given the stress of what is at stake, Sharma is glad to have a few familiar faces around for his debut tour.
He is a first-year student at Manipal Academy of Higher Education in Dubai, a seat of learning that has also been attended by fellow tourists Ashwanth Valthapa, Karthik Meiyappan and Aryan Lakra.
Plus, there is fellow teen Aayan Khan, who was his captain in the U19s side last week.
“We were teammates in the last [U19 World Cup in the Caribbean] and in the U19 [Qualifier] he was my captain,” Sharma said.
“It is good to share a dressing room with him and I have got to learn a lot from him because he is a regular senior player. It is good to be around him.
“When I see him, it makes me feel like the U19 kids also have the potential to get into the UAE men’s team, and do really well. Seeing him do that inspired me.
“From now onwards, the journey begins for me, and hopefully I can have a very good cricketing journey.”
Sharma, who lists his new teammate Vriitya Aravind alongside Virat Kohli among his role models in cricket, was born in Ghaziabad, near Delhi, but came to UAE with his family aged two.
He says his initial impressions of Kathmandu remind him of his birthplace.
“Where I am from in India, this place is similar to that,” Sharma said.
“It gives me the vibes of my own place. I feel like Nepal is also my home, so it would be good to play over here. Hopefully, I get a game.
“Nepal and India are similar to each other. If I see anywhere in this country, I feel like, OK, this is similar to India. I feel at home.”
The years Ramadan fell in May
The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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.”
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
CHELSEA SQUAD
Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
