Aryan Lakra provided a reminder of his potential in the opening game of the new Dream 11 Emirates D20 tournament.
The 18-year-old all-rounder took 5-16 as ECB Blues comfortably beat Abu Dhabi in the first exchanges of the 20-over competition at the Dubai International Stadium.
The tournament has been set up to give a platform for emerging talent to show their worth, as Robin Singh, the UAE coach, seeks to expand the player pool available for national team selection.
It achieved that aim at the very first opportunity. The ECB Blues are a development team that includes a number of players who featured in the UAE side at the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa in February.
Many of them thrived. Lakra, who captained the age-group team, led the way with his five-wicket haul.
As was so often the case in age-group cricket, he was joined in a fine bowling partnership by Karthik Meiyappan, who took 1-17 from his four overs of leg-spin.
Their former U19 colleagues Vriitya Aravind, Alishan Sharafu and Ansh Tandon all contributed to the 36-run win, too.
“A lot of the credit goes to the management and the people around us,” Lakra said.
“The senior players have created a very good environment in the men’s side, and we don’t feel like we are juniors.
“Everyone treats us equally, and they are willing to help us out. Robin-sir and Najeeb-sir [Najeeb Amar, the UAE assistant coach] have really helped us, and I think we are reaping the rewards.”
Under normal conditions, Lakra might have hoped to have debuted for the senior team by now.
He has seen Meiyappan, Aravind, Sharafu, and another player from the U19 World Cup side, Jonathan Figy, make the step up to the full side so far.
However, the pandemic has meant opportunities have been scarce. The national team have been without cricket since winning the ACC Western Region T20 in Oman in February.
It is possible they may resume international duty next month. Lakra, for his part, is pleased for his friends, and is content to wait for his chance to follow them into the senior side.
“I think they all deserved it, whoever has made their men’s debut so far,” Lakra said.
“I will just wait for my chance. If I do, I know I will get picked, then hopefully I can reap the rewards at international level.
“I feel as though going into the seniors at Associate level is not so much of a gap in skills, it is more about the mental set up, and how strong you are mentally.
“If you want to do well, it depends on how strong you are mentally.”
Singh, the former India all-rounder, has been impressed by what he has seen from the young talent in the UAE since he was instilled as coach in February.
“When I arrived, people said there were not enough players on the scene. I think that was an illusion,” Singh said.
“After that, we have managed to pull out a lot more players than we thought existed in UAE.
“Going forward with this D20 tournament, I think it will not only enhance the profile of the place, but will also give us a better chance to see the longevity of players, their fitness, and give us a platform to pick a lot more players in the future.
“There are a lot of young players, who I think will surprise people going forward.
“We want to ensure this team going forward in the UAE will be on the big stage soon.”
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Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
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MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
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
Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
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.”
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