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Waseem and UAE make history after acing 206 chase against Bangladesh
UAE held their nerve in a last-gasp finish in Sharjah, and eventually completed a famous two-wicket win against Bangladesh in the second T20I.
It was a historic effort from the home side to win for the first time against Bangladesh, chasing down 205 runs with a ball to spare. UAE captain Muhammad Waseem’s 82 held the innings together, as he struck nine fours and five sixes from 42 balls.
But it was how UAE reacted after Waseem’s departure, with 58 runs still left in the chase, that spoke of their strength in character. Every player struck at least a six from No. 7 onwards, with Dhruv Parashar keeping his cool in the last over. Haider Ali struck the winning runs off Tanzim Hasan off the penultimate ball. Although it was a free hit, both Haider and Matiullah Khan were in a mix-up. Towhid Hridoy, inexplicably, didn’t throw the ball on the first attempt. By the time Hridoy’s throw came in, Haider had completed the two runs that gave UAE the famous win.
UAE’s chase started with a stroke of luck when Najmul Hossain Shanto couldn’t latch on to a tough chance off Muhammad Zohaib’s outside edge, off the first ball. Waseem, though, took off from where he left off in the first game. He launched Tanvir Islam out of the stadium in the second over. This one didn’t even bounce on the roof, but went straight out of the ground into the trees.
He struck Tanzim over midwicket with a swing of the bat, before slog-sweeping Tanvir in the next over, for his third six. Waseem also took a liking to Rana’s pace, tonking him three time in the ninth over, straight, through the covers and over point. He lifted Rishad over long-on for his fourth six to complete a century opening stand.
UAE lost two wickets in the 11th and 12th overs but Bangladesh couldn’t make it three in a row. Hridoy dropped Waseem, who was batting on 63, in the 13th over. He clattered Tanvir for his fifth six soon afterwards, as he got the chase immediately back on track.
Nahid Rana has made an impressive start in Tests and T20Is so there was hope and hype about his T20I debut. He however couldn’t quite release the ball properly in his first over. He dropped one too short first ball, before bowling a beamer next ball. Both were no-balls, before Zohaib top edged a catch to cover off the free hit.
Rana couldn’t get his bearing right, bowling a big wide down the leg-side next, before Waseem cracked him twice through point for consecutive fours. It could have been a third four but Hridoy stopped a sharp blow at midwicket at the 30-yard line. Nahid went for 18 in his first over.
UAE were still doing well when Asif Khan slammed Tanzim for consecutive sixes in the 14th over. The second was a special shot, a flat blow through the covers. Shorfiul Islam, however, got the better of Waseem in the following over, getting him caught behind with a slower delivery. Jaker took a splendid catch, diving well to his right. Rana, smarting after two expensive overs, hit back with Asif’s wicket. He got the big hitter to slog at a hard length. Rana took the catch off his own bowling, giving Bangladesh a vital edge in the contest.
Rana could have had another wicket but the captain Litton Das, Rishad and Tanzid nearly collided to take Saghir Khan’s catch. The ball went down, before Saghir cracked Rishad for a six over long on. He, however, fell next ball, getting caught at long-off. Aryansh Sharma repeated Saghir’s formula, top-edging Rana for a six before getting caught and bowled one ball later. Shoriful started the penultimate over by removing Alishan Sharafu, giving Bangladesh another boost.
Parashar, however, didn’t get fazed by the wickets at the other end, slamming Shorfiul for a four over mid-on, and six through point. With 17 to win off the last seven balls, Shoriful conceded five overthrows by throwing at the non-striker’s end.
Tanzim started the 12-run defense in the last over with a wide down the leg side. Parashar then posted Tanzim’s full-toss high over long-on for a six, leaving just four needed off the remaining four balls. He however fell next ball, before Matiullah Khan took a single. The decisive moment of the game, arguably, came next ball: Tanzim bowled another full-toss, which was adjudged a no-ball.
Haider managed to squeeze the ball through point and hared back for the second but there was a mix-up with Matiullah. Had Hridoy thrown the ball with the first attempt, the run-out was very much possible as the replays showed that Haider reached the crease just in the nick of time as the throw came in late.
Bangladesh made their best start in seven years when they got 17 runs in the first over of the match. Tanzid slammed Matiullah Khan for a big six off the fourth ball, before hammering two straight boundaries. Then, Litton cracked Dhruv Parashar for consecutive fours too, but Muhammad Jawadullah dropped a sitter off the next ball, when Litton was on ten.
Jawadullah didn’t fare better with the ball shortly afterwards. UAE’s best bowler from the first game, the left-arm quick went for 15 runs in his first over. Tanzid cracked him through the covers first ball, before launching him into the stands over square-leg. Then came the dab past the lone slip. Tanzid eventually completed his fourth T20I fifty with a six off left-arm spinner Haider Ali.
Tanzid however fell in the tenth over when he couldn’t hit it past Matiullah at deep square-leg. Overall, he struck three sixes and eight fours in his 33-ball 59. He helped stitch together an opening stand of 90 with Litton, as Bangladesh eventually made a towering 205 for 5. It wasn’t to be enough.
Brief scores:
UAE 206 for 8 in 19.5 overs (Muhammad Waseem 82, Muhammad Zohaib 38, Asif Khan 19, Alishan Sharafu 13, Druhv Parashar 11, Haider Ali 13*; Shoriful Islam 2-34, Tanvir Islam 1-37, Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-55, Nahid Rana 2-50, Rishad Hasan 2-28) beat Bangladesh 205 for 5 in 20 overs (Tanzid Hasan 59, Litton Das 40, Najmul Hossain /shanto 27, Towhid Hridoy 45, Jaker Ali 1; Muhammad Jawadullah 3-45, Saghir Khan 2-36) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
European leaders, including in France and Germany, have announced they are working on a plan in the event the United States follows through on its threat to take over Greenland as tensions soar.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio on Wednesday that while nations want to act if the US moves to seize Greenland from an ally, Denmark, they want to do so “together with our European partners”.
“I myself was on the phone with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday. He discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland,” Barrot said.
On Saturday, the United States – using fighter jets, attack helicopters, and special forces – abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, bringing him to New York City to be tried for alleged drug trafficking.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to greenlight the abduction of Maduro led to widespread condemnation and fear that Greenland, which the president has previously said should be part of Washington’s security apparatus, could be forcibly taken.
But since then, European allies have rallied behind Greenland’s sovereignty, saying the country belongs to its people.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised within NATO.
“[Allies should] address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions,” he said.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
“We would like to add some nuance to the conversation,” Rasmussen wrote in a social media post. “The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now.”
Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean “everything would stop”, including NATO and 80 years of close security links.
Greenland’s government will join a meeting between Rubio and Danish officials next week following renewed US claims on the Arctic island, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The European Union will support Greenland and Denmark when needed and will not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur, European Council President Antonio Costa said.
“On Greenland, allow me to be clear: Greenland belongs to its people. Nothing can be decided about Denmark and about Greenland without Denmark or without Greenland,” Costa said in a speech.
“The European Union cannot accept violations of international law – whether in Cyprus, Latin America, Greenland, Ukraine, or Gaza. Europe will remain a firm and unwavering champion of international law and multilateralism.”
Greenland – the world’s largest island, with a population of 57,000 people – is located between Europe and North America. Since 2019, during Trump’s first term, the president has raised the idea of controlling Greenland, saying it would benifit US security.
So far, Trump has not ruled out using force to take the island.
Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s intention is to buy Greenland. “That’s always been the president’s intent from the very beginning.”
House US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hasn’t heard talk of sending the military into Greenland and the US is “looking at diplomatic channels”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his national security team have “actively discussed” the option of buying Greenland.
“He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, “The president’s first option, always, has been diplomacy.”
[Aljazeera]
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