Mohammed Shahdad said he hopes to establish himself in the UAE batting line-up after guiding them to a rare win in Cricket World Cup League 2.
The 24-year-old batter endured a tough baptism to the international game in a one-day international tri-series involving the United States and Nepal in Dubai.
The national team were soundly beaten in two matches against the USA, which included being fired out for just 49 by them on Monday.
Two days later, though, they recovered to pick up a morale-boosting win against Nepal in the last match of the tri-series.
Their chase of 240 was underpinned by a stand of 147 for the fourth wicket between Shahdad and Muhammad Waseem.
While the capabilities of Waseem, the T20 captain and formerly the captain in this format, are well known, Shahdad’s contribution in just his third match was highly promising.
He eventually fell within striking distance of a first ODI century, but the game was as good as won thanks to his 123-ball innings of 96.
It was the second time in a matter of a few days at the same venue that a UAE batter had fallen just short of a maiden century in a game against Nepal.
Earlier in the tri-series, Aryansh Sharma had chipped a catch straight back to Sandeep Lamichhane within two runs of a ton.
As Aryansh had said after his effort, Shahdad pointed out that the personal landmark mattered less than the win for the team.
It was just the UAE’s fifth in 20 matches in the competition, and they remain rooted to the foot of the table.
“I have been putting in a lot of work for a long time and, in the 50-over format, I feel like I was ready to play international cricket,” Shahdad said.
“I am very thankful I could play well today, score runs for my team, and most importantly we won the game.
“We lost a few early wickets. Me and Sohaib Khan, we are both debutants in this series. All I told him was, ‘Let’s keep batting and take it long’.
“Me and Waseem had a good partnership. When you have someone like that batting with you, there is never any tension. We just kept batting, and it was all about patience and staying at the crease.”
It was Alishan Sharafu’s first success as captain, in just his second match in charge of the ODI side.
The 22-year-old batter took the armband after Rahul Chopra was ruled out of the series midway through with a back injury.
“We didn’t have the ideal start in the first game against the USA, but I think we did well in each of the matches after the loss against them to come back and show some character,” Sharafu said.
“Yes, there is a lot to work on, but there are also a lot of positives in the tournament. Hopefully we can work on that in the coming games.
“We have had a few good individual performances. We have to work on consistently putting our hands up to get the team over the line.”
