DHAKA // Twelve months of being not much better than useless, then two of the finest wins in the history of UAE cricket within the space of four days. To call the national team an enigma rather undersells the point.
After beating Ireland for the first time in 15 years on Tuesday, the UAE flew to Bangladesh and added the scalp of the other leading non-Test nation, Afghanistan.
The 16-run win in the opening match of the Asia Cup qualifying round was foreseen by few, outside of the team themselves.
Amjad Javed, the captain, had said after the Ireland win he was confident, and that all the pressure was on Afghanistan. How right he was, and how valuable that boost in morale against the Irish proved to be, too.
In the space of his first 50 balls at the Asia Cup, Rohan Mustafa went batting pauper to prince, laying the platform for a shock win for UAE over the top-ranked associate side in T20 cricket.
The last time he played at the top level for the national team, Mustafa suffered a miserable time. At the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand last year, the tournament he had been waiting for his whole life, he scored eight runs in four innings.
Judging by his opening salvo here, he has some unfinished business with the big stage.
The TV cameras will be back on for the main part of this competition next week. UAE are vying with Afghanistan, Oman and Hong Kong to decide who qualifies to face India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh then. Mustafa is clearly keen to stick around.
He played some startling shots in his innings of 77, which included four sixes. The Friday afternoon crowd in Fatullah, in the southern outskirts of Dhaka, loved it.
It was only ever going to be his day. He took a fine catch, running back towards the boundary over his shoulder, to dismiss Usman Ghani, the opener, as Afghanistan’s reply faltered at the start.
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It was as though he was showboating when he took three wickets in four balls to finish a match of great personal triumph.
“I think I performed well in fielding, I took a good catch, I bowled very well and especially the innings was a boost for UAE, that was the main thing,” Mustafa said.
“[Looking ahead] we will be very confident but in T20 you can’t say too much about that. You have to be very concentrated on each match.
“We were talking about the fact we have to concentrate on the Hong Kong match now, and worry about Oman after that.”
Mustafa did benefit from some luck with the bat. Karim Sadiq, in particular, must have been enjoying watching Mustafa bat, seeing as he gave him three chances to carry on. He dropped the opener on 18, 51 and 75.
Sadiq, the canny allrounder who has been a mainstay of the Afghan side for the past decade, did his best to right the wrongs himself.
He made 72 off 43 balls, but his was a lone hand when the Afghans needed a group effort if they were to haul in their target of 177 to win.
“If you drop two or three catches, a batsman will be confident playing his shots,” Asghar Stanikzai, the Afghanistan captain, said.
“Our problem was those three dropped catches. We still have a chance to qualify for the next round.
“UAE still have to play Oman and Hong Kong, and we have to win our two matches with a good run rate.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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