UAE youth show up Ireland, Ali leads Bahrain to victory over Germany

UAE youngsters Vriitya Aravind and Karthik Meiyappan starred as the Emirates closed out a hard-fought win over Ireland on the first day of the T20 World Cup 2022 Qualifier - the 19 year-old Aravind striking an unbeaten 97 from number three and the 21 year-old legspionner Meiyappan taking 3-16 to break the Irish chase and see the pre-tournament favourites to an 18-run win. Meanwhile Bahrain skipper Sarfaraz Ali struck a brutal 69 not out to see his side to a comfortable six wicket victory after Junaid Aziz had run through the German tail to claim a maiden T20I five wicket haul as Germany dramatically collapsed from 99-4 to 106 all out.

Aravind arrived at the crease early after Mark Adair produced a perfect late inswinger to remove the in-form Chirag Suri for a first ball duck with the last ball of the 1st over. Craig Young struck with his first ball as the dangerous Muhammad Waseem looking to hit into the wind was just about caught by Gareth Delaney to reduce the UAE to 20/2. Rohan Mustafa kept Aravind company for six overs to take them to 58/2 at the half-way stage, but after a cautious start Mustafa suddenly tried to use his feet to Simi Singh only to charge past an arm ball and be smartly stumped. Two overs later Basil Hameed launched Singh for the first six of the match to signal the acceleration, but picked out Adair in the deep off Young two overs later. His 16 off 14 was the most substantial contribution behind that of Aravind as Ireland continued to take wickets but were unable to contain the young keeper-bat, whose last 30 runs came in just 16 balls as he took the UAE to 157/5 at the break, finishing three short of a well deserved century.

Balbirnie and Stirling got the Ireland chase off to a brisk start, the latter driving the scoring as the pair brought up the fifty partnership inside the powerplay. The field spreading and the introduction of spin immediately broke the stand - Stirling holing out for 32 off Meiyappan's first ball. Meiyappan should have had a second wicket five balls later when Ahmed Raza spilled a low chance at cover to reprieve Balbirnie on 19. Raza made good in the next over, however, finding Balbirnie's stumps as the Irish captain sought to make room backing away.

Meiyappan bagged his well-deserved second in the next, claiming the catch himself on the second attempt after palming up a full-blooded straight drive off Delaney, and then struck again with the first ball of the 11th over, pushing one wide as Singh charged and Aravind was denied a stumping only by Singh edging onto his own stumps, bringing George Dockrell to the crease with Ireland needing 92 off the last ten overs with 6 wickets in hand. Dockrell threatened to turn things around with a pair of fine looking shots through the off side, but lost his off stump to an inswinger from Siddique in the 13th.

It fell to Lorcan Tucker and Shane Getkate to keep Irish hopes alive, but a promising partnership came to an end when a looping full toss from Mustafa drew a misjudged swipe from Getkate, the top edge coming down for Raza at mid off. Tucker soon followed him, throwing his hands at a wide slower ball from Zahoor and sending the ball skywards, with Hameed holding the catch at midwicket. And while Andy McBrine gamely sought to hit Ireland back into the chase, Meiyappan's spectacular diving catch at point off Mustafa in the 18th all but finished the chase off. Clinical death bowling from Zahoor Khan and Mustafa ensured Ireland fell 18 runs short.

Across on the second ground, a promising start for Germany underpinned by Vijayshankar Chikkannaiah's 43-ball half century imploded spectacularly as Junaid Aziz ran through the tail at lightning speed. Germany had recovered to 99/4 after a shaky start when Waseeq Ahmed took two wickets in two balls to reduce them to to 55/4 in nine overs. Skipper Venkatraman Ganesan and Chikkannaiah put on a brisk 49-run stand to set a solid platform. Chikkanniah rode his luck as he was repeatedly reprieved by sloppy catching on his way to fifty, but it seemed that by the 15th over he had entirely exhausted his team's credit with the fates. Aziz became the second Bahraini bowler to bag two in two, first having Ganesan stumped for twenty and then Fayaz Khan cutting straight to point. Dieter Klein survived the hat-trick ball but drove the next into the hands of extra cover.

Having lost three partners in four balls at the other end, Chikkanniah joined them in the pavilion on the next, trapped in front after missing a sweep aimed at Haider Ali. Aziz was gifted another wicket in the next over as Ghulam Ahmed slapped a low full toss back to the bowler, and wrapped up a five wicket haul and the German innings just two balls later, with last man Elam Barathi throwing the bat after a wider delivery and feathering an edge behind. Losing six wickets for just 7 runs, Germany had collapsed from 99/4 to 106 all out.

Klein got Germany off to a perfect start as Mohammad Younis top-edged a pull on the second legitimate delivery of the innings and Imtiaz followed in similar fashion four balls later. But Bahrain skipper Sarfaraz Ali took the fight back to Germany, hitting Justin Broad for consecutive boundaries in the fifth over, and together with Aziz he took his side to 50/2 after 8 overs. Ashraf broke the partnership in the tenth over trapping Aziz LBW on the sweep, but by then Ali had his eye in, bringing up his fifty in style two overs later by driving Ashraf for his fifth six over long off.

Ali lost another partner two balls later as Ghulam Ahmadi had David Mathias stumped, but Ali carried on unfazed, finishing things off in style, cutting Klein away to the rope behind point to finish unbeaten on 69 from 38, taking his side to the win with six wickets and 26 balls to spare.

The victory sees Bahrain to the top spot in Group B, and will boost their confidence ahead of sterner tests against Ireland tomorrow and the UAE on Monday. For Ireland that match becomes a must-win game, as defeat would see them just about eliminated from contention. The UAE meanwhile have done justice to their label as favourites ahead of the tournament and could potentially seal their place in the semi finals when they take on Germany tomorrow.