UAE eye series with win over Ireland in last ODI

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

A depleted but resilient UAE will look to clinch the series with win over Ireland in the fourth and the final ODI in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

The UAE defeated Ireland in the first ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the series. But the next two games were cancelled because of some of the UAE players were found coronavirus positive and were send into isolation.

Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) was keeping a strict vigil on the developments and decided to go ahead with last ODI of the series.

In the first match, Indo-Pak pair of Mohd Usman and Chundangapoyil Rizwan scored centuries as the UAE chased down a fighting total of 270 plus.

UAE will once again bank on their formidable middle-order to deliver against the Irish. Waheed Ahmed and Rohan Mustafa can play big shots down the order and spur the run rate.

Captain Ahmed Raza will lead the spin department along with Mustafa, who has rendered his services both with the bat and the ball. He has been a permanent feature of the UAE cricket team for over a decade and is one of the most experienced players in the line-up. He also has the distinction of playing in the 2015 World Cup in Australia.

Meanwhile, Zahoor Khan will spearhead the pace battery and he is likely to be supported by Kashif Daud and Waheed.

UAE had not played any international match for over a year before the series opener against Ireland but few of their players had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the international stars like Dwayne Bravo, Rohit Sharma and AB De Villiers at the recently concluded IPL.

The 13th edition of the IPL was shifted to the UAE in the wake of rising cases of coronavirus in the country of one billion plus population.

Zahoor was roped in by (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians as net bowler after a couple of their bowlers picked up injuries and were ruled out.

Raza and Karthik Meiyappan trained with Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), where they got to bowl at legend likes De Villiers.

And all these players translated their training experience with the cricketing giants into success against a formidable Ireland.

The UAE are playing their first bilateral series in over a year since the outbreak of the pandemic. The novel coronavirus brought all the sporting activities to a halt.

Ireland too are playing their first international series after a year almost. The Ireland will play an ODI series later in the month against Afghanistan.

Ireland will also look to bounce back to draw level. The mainstay of their bating will be once again Paul Sterling, who scored his tenth century in the ODIs in the first match, and Kevin O’ Brien.