UAE ended their World T20 campaign on a low note, losing their final match of the first round to Zimbabwe by five wickets in Sylhet.
Batting first, the UAE reached 116-9, mainly due to the 58-run partnership for the third wicket between captain Khurram Khan (26 off 27 balls) and Swapnil Patil (30 off 26). But wickets kept falling as they failed to put up a decent total.
In reply, Zimbabwe were in a spot of bother early on but Elton Chigumbura (53) sealed the deal.
Captain Khan reflected on the defeat and the tournament as a whole, saying the team will learn a lot from the experience.
“It was disappointing to lose. We didn’t have enough runs on the board. The wicket was slow and if we had reached 140-145, we could have done well,” Khan said.
“Dropped catches also hurt us but we still had our chances early one”
The 42-year-old added that the team, playing their first World Cup since the 1996 50-over tournament, need to improve their fitness levels.
“We’re a young side and this is our first time at this level, so we need a bit of patience. We have to work on our fitness and hopefully next time around we will do better.”
On his part, Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor was pleased with his side’s effort, which unfortunately wasn’t enough to see his side through as the Netherlands beat Ireland to take the spot in the Super 10 stage.
“It was nice to see the guys coming out and playing with freedom. We were a bit more clinical today, even if we did lose a couple of early wickets. We generally underperformed, we’re a far better unit than that and hopefully we get more consistent in the future.”
A 58-run stand between Patel and Khan underpinned the UAE’s efforts, before a late cameo from Kamran Shazad (21 off 15 balls) added late impetus.
Left-arm spinner Sean Williams was the most successful bowler, with 3-15 from four overs as the UAE stuttered to 116.
In the chase, Zimbabwe were in trouble at 34-4 after seven overs, but Chigumbura turned things in their favour with an unbeaten 53 off just 21 deliveries.
The 28-year-old signalled his intentions with a six off his first delivery and two more boundaries followed in an over which cost Shazad and his team 15 runs.
Another 14 followed before the partnership was broken when Vusi Sibanda was caught and bowled by Khurram for 16, making it 63-5.
However, there were no further mishaps for Zimbabwe. Chigumbura brought up three figures for his team with a straight six which took him to 47 off 20 deliveries – and the next delivery he faced brought the same result as he secured victory for his team with 38 balls remaining.
Timycen Maruma finished with an unbeaten 22 off 14 balls, sharing in the unbroken 55-run sixth-wicket stand which took the game away from the UAE.
