New Zealand clinched the title after defeating UAE in the Open and Masters group finals of the New Zealand-Asia Cup Indoor Cricket Tournament. Earlier today, in the last series of general matches,
UAE defeated India and qualified for the final against New Zealand. In the open group, the Indian team was ranked second from the start. But due to the shock given by UAE in the final stage, India had to exit the tournament. The defeat against Sri Lanka in the beginning also proved to be a factor for this.
In the final match of the open group, New Zealand celebrated an 81-60 victory over UAE by 21 runs. After winning the toss and batting first, New Zealand’s Victor Davies (17 runs and 3 wickets), Braden Gardner (16 runs), Darrin Crook and Matt Latham (13 runs and 1 wicket each) scored a resounding victory and qualified for the New Zealand-Asia Cup Carved.
UAE’s opening three pairings looked to be on course to defeat New Zealand with superb performances (30-30, 19-10 and 3-26) before a disappointing performance by the last pairing (29-(-6)) led to defeat. Defeated UAE’s Muhammed Shijas (23 runs and 1 wicket), Arjun Manohar and Jay Joshi (15 runs each) put up a strong fight for New Zealand but failed to get the support of others and faced Parbhava.
In the Masters (40+) group, New Zealand thrashed UAE by 49 runs 107-58. In this match, New Zealand’s Adrian Fong (19 runs and 2 wickets), Chris Priest (17 runs and 2 wickets), Robert Hyndman (15 runs and 2 wickets) and Rob Sheary (19 runs) dominated UAE. In this match, New Zealand managed to dismiss the UAE players 11 times, which is why they could celebrate a big victory. While UAE’s Tharindu Mendes (18 runs and 1 wicket), Syamu Chandrabhanu (20 runs), Sachin Talwar (17 runs) and Meet Dalal (16 runs) did not get the support of other players, New Zealand blew away the UAE.
New Zealand’s Victor Davies won the open category and UAE’s Khalid Hussain became the best player in the Masters category.