Pat Cummins said captaining Australia to Sunday's World Cup triumph over hosts India was the "pinnacle in cricket".
Australia chased down India's total of 240 with seven overs to spare to claim a six-wicket win at a packed Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, dashing the hopes of a first World Cup title since 2011 for the cricket-mad nation of more than a billion people.
The final was a personal triumph for Cummins, whose decision to field first was vindicated as India, who had won all 10 of their games leading up to the final, saw their batsmen struggle to build any meaningful partnerships.
"That's huge, that's the pinnacle in cricket, winning a World Cup, especially here in India, in front of a crowd like this," said Cummins.
It has been a personal and professional rollercoaster for Cummins in 2023.
In March, he returned home from a tour of India to be with his mother, Maria, before she died.
"I've obviously had a really big year. I know my family at home is watching, just got a message from dad saying he's had a lot of 4am wake-ups, not going to bed until 4am, so he's as pumped as anything.
"You sacrifice a lot to play for Australia and everyone in the team has and we've spent a lot of this year away but we do it for these moments."
India star batsman Virat Kohli ended the match having set a new record for most runs – 765 – at a single World Cup.
But when fast bowler Cummins had Kohli playing on for 54 on Sunday, to leave India148-4, the 100,000-plus crowd of predominantly Indian fans fell silent.
Before the match, Cummins – who finished the final with superb figures of 2-34 in 10 overs – had said there was no better feeling for an opposition player than quieting a partisan home crowd.
Cummins, asked if dismissing Kohli was as sweet a moment as he had known in cricket, the 30-year-old replied: "I think so. We did take a second in the huddle just to acknowledge the silence that was going around the crowd.
"It just felt like it was one of those days where it was all made for him [Kohli] to score another hundred like he normally does – so that was satisfying."
Australia briefly wobbled at 47-3 in their reply but man-of-the-match Travis Head's 137, and the opener's partnership of 192 with Marnus Labuschagne (58 not out), secured a record-extending sixth World Cup title for Australia with seven overs to spare.
Head, who might have missed the World Cup entirely after fracturing his hand in South Africa in September, had already held a brilliant diving catch running back to dismiss India captain Rohit Sharma that cut short his rival opener's threatening 47 off just 31 balls.
"Travis Head was phenomenal," said Cummins. "I think a lot of credit should also go to [coach] Andrew McDonald and George Bailey, the selectors, to take a punt ...To keep him in the squad was a huge risk."
He added: "We could have been made to look really silly if that didn't pay off, but you got to take those risks to win a tournament."
In between their world titles, Australia also retained the Ashes during a 2-2 drawn series in England.
"It's been a big year for everyone, but our cricket team has been here in India, Ashes, World Test Championship and to top it off with this is just huge," said Cummins.
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.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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