Pakistan and UAE will meet at the eastern most cricket ground in the World Cup on Wednesday.
It seems bizarre that two sides who are so intrinsically linked have to go the end of the Earth to play a competitive fixture against each other.
Both call Sharjah Cricket Stadium home. So deep are the ties, it is probably fair to say one could not exist without the other.
Nine of the 15-man UAE squad at the World Cup are Pakistani nationals. The head coach, Aaqib Javed, and the batting coach, Mudassar Nazar, are ex-Pakistan internationals of great repute.
RELATED:
- Aaqib Javed: No time for sentiment ahead of World Cup clash with Pakistan
[ - Pakistan batting stuck in the past despite World Cup win over Zimbabwe ]
[ - MS Dhoni calls on ICC to provide more fixtures for associate nations ]
Pakistan, for their part, have been able to live in exile in the UAE, where they have been granted mate’s rates on the country’s high-class cricket facilities for years.
Their national team has only has been able to survive - and often thrive - as an international entity because of it.
Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, acknowledged as much in the eve of match press conference.
“It is really important for us because whatever we did in the last four years, I think UAE played a wider role in Pakistan’s cricket,” Misbah said.
“We just achieved so many things there, the whitewash over England and whitewash over Australia in Test matches there.
“We won against Sri Lanka, also. We played most of our cricket in UAE, so you could say that’s home for us.
“Whatever we are achieving, whatever we did in the last four years, that’s due to UAE.”
Misbah says his side know their opposition well, too, and have plans for them as a result.
Not that the UAE are strangers to their celebrated tenants, though.
The national team played a two-day tour match against the full Pakistan Test side ahead of their series against South Africa.
A Pakistan A side, which included a number of players in the World Cup squad, also beat the UAE 3-2 in a warm up series for this event at the end of 2014.
Furthermore, Pakistani players - such as Nasir Jamshed and Umar Akmal from the World Cup squad - have often been hired by company sides to play domestic A division cricket in the UAE.
Amjad Javed, the bowler who has been one of the stand out players for the UAE so far in this competition, remembers hitting Mohammed Irfan, the towering quick bowler, for sixes at Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi around seven years ago.
He says the opposition hold no mysteries for his batting colleagues.
“They are not scared,” Javed said. “They are well prepared, and still they are preparing.
“Our batting coach Mudassar is working very hard on them, so Inshallah, we’ll do well.
“We are representing as the UAE, so it doesn’t matter if you are Pakistani playing against Pakistan.
“We will play as UAE, so we will give 100 per cent against them.”
[ pradley@thenational.ae ]
The bio
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France
Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines
Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.
Favourite Author: My father for sure
Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst
MORE FROM CON COUGHLIN
Cultural fiesta
What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.
Pakistan T20 series squad
Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shahzad, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammed Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Amir Yamin, Mohammed Amir (subject to fitness clearance), Rumman Raees, Usman Shinwari, Umar Amin
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
