Experience was what we lacked, says UAE captain Amjad Javed

Denzil Pinto 08:31 01/03/2016
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  • Pride in defeat: UAE captain Amjad Javed.

    The UAE suffered a seven-wicket defeat as Shahid Afridi’s men secured their first victory in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

    Batting first the UAE bounced back from the loss of two early wickets to score a competitive 129 in their 20 overs with valuable contributions from Shaiman Anwar (46) and Javed (27).

    All-rounder Javed then showed his quality with the ball, taking three scalps to plunge Pakistan into deep trouble at 17-3 after three overs. But a 114-run stand between Shoaib Malik (63no) and Umar Akmal (50no), condemned the UAE to their third straight loss.

    While Javed praised Malik and Akmal for their match-winning stand, the 35-year-old said it was their opponents’ greater know-how which ultimately proved pivotal.

    “I think what took the game away from us was down to experience,” he told Sport360.

    “They are a top Test team and have won World Cups and have players who regularly play at the top level so that’s a big difference between them and us.

    “We put them under pressure and took early wickets but Malik and Umar played extremely well.

    They took the game away from us. At one point, they needed to score around nine runs an over but they remained cool and played patiently.”

    The UAE lost quick wickets and were 12-3 at the end of the fourth over but recovered to post a competitive total.

    He added: “We didn’t get off to a good start in batting but it was down to the quality of their bowlers.

    But we came back strongly and Shaiman, Mohammad Usman and myself scored some runs and managed to put on a decent total.

    “The team is really doing well, I did my best to contribute and try and bring the game back, and make Pakistan work hard. Our coach Aaqib Javed was sure we could give them a fight if we scored 100.

    We wanted about 120 but we got 10 runs extra, we knew it would be difficult to chase, we got some early wickets but we could not capitalize on that. We are still learning.”

    Malik was dropped at 41 by Usman Mushtaq when 38 was needed from 25 deliveries but Javed refused to blame his team-mate.

    “When you are playing in this competition, there is pressure on all fielders,” he added.

    “You can’t say a dropped catch will change the outcome of the game. When you are playing against good team, there’s always a chance of a dropped catch, poor bowling or fielding. It happens but important that we learn from this.”

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