Tim Southee praises UAE's fighting spirit after winning first T20

Tim Southee walked away with the man-of-the-match award for a five-wicket haul, but the New Zealand stalwart saluted the fighting spirit of the UAE team after winning the first game of the three-match T20 series by 19 runs at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.

While their bowlers put up a spirited display against the near-full strength New Zealand, restricting the visitors to a modest 155 for six, Aryansh Sharma won hearts with a magnificent 43-ball 60.

If only the 18-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman had found support from the other batters, the UAE would perhaps have earned their first victory over a top Test-playing team.

Chasing 156, the UAE raced to 84 for three in 10.1 overs despite losing captain Muhammad Waseem for a golden duck in the first ball of their chase.

But Aryansh (43, 60 balls, 9 fours, 1 six) was fearless on his T20 debut, cutting and driving on the rise against the likes of Southee (5/25) and Kyle Jamieson to keep the UAE hopes alive for a historic win.

Eventually, it was James Neesham who dismissed Aryansh in the 15th over to ease the Kiwis nerve as Southee’s team went on to win by 19 runs.

The UAE, which were bowled out for 136 in the final over, would rue the failure of other batters who could not make their starts count.

Their poor shot-selection showed the inexperience and these youngsters will hope not to repeat the mistakes in the two remaining games on August 19 and 20 in Dubai.

But on Thursday, no one expected Aryansh to play the way he did on his debut in T20 internationals.

The India-born right-handed batsman who moved to the UAE with his parents at the age of two, delighted the two-thousand home fans with the quality of his shot-making.

“It was a good game of cricket. We came to expect that. (UAE’s) Youngsters playing with that sort of freedom - it is exciting,” Southee said.

Earlier, the UAE were superb on the field with new-ball bowler Junaid Siddique (2/35) giving the home team a dream start as he had Chad Bowes (0) caught behind in the first ball of the match.

Despite opener Tim Seifert’s 34-ball 55, the hosts fought back and reduced the Kiwis to 109 for six.

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