MUSCAT: UAE kept their cool to win against Ireland by 13 runs in a battle of nerves at the quadrangular T20 series at the Oman Cricket Academy in Al Amerat on Sunday.
The second win put the UAE on top of table with 4 points from two matches. Ireland are second with two points and a better net run-rate than Nepal with same points. Hosts Oman are yet to get a point.
Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie won the toss and sent UAE to bat.
Craig Young got the explosive opener Chirag Suri early at 13 and Josh Little sent back other opener Mohammad Waseem for 12 as UAE slumped to 29-2 in the fourth over.
Vriitya Aravind and all-rounder Rohan Mustafa then rescued UAE with a 94-run partnership from 69 balls.
Aravind hit 50 from 36 balls and Mustafa scored 54 from 43 balls, both falling to Young who had an impressive bowling figures of 4-28 in four overs.
Kashif Daud hammered Mark Adair for 23 runs in the last over as UAE posted a total of 178 for 5.
In reply, Ireland started badly when star batter Paul Stirling (1) got out to a brilliant direct throw from Aravind in the fifth ball of the innings.
Gareth Delany then played a blinder smacking fours and sixers and threatened to take away the match from the UAE.
UAE bowlers were relieved when Rohan Mustafa brilliantly bowled Delany with a slow ball after conceding consecutive boundaries. Delany hit 40 from 20 balls.
Delany stitched a 64-run partnership with skipper Balbirnie.
Curtis Campher joined Balbirnie in effort to build a partnership.
Palaniapan Meiyappan broke the partnership when he took the wicket of Balbirnie, caught by Mustafa.
The Ireland skipper made 42 from 27 balls.
The Irish hopes of a win ended when Campher was run out after a smart piece of work from wicketkeeper Mohammad Boota and Zohoor Khan. Campher made 40 from 39 balls.
Zohoor, who was at the receiving end from Delany in his first over, came back brilliantly to bowl back-to-back yorkers in his second spell to make scoring difficult of Irish batters.
In the end, it was too big an ask for Mark Adair and Simi Singh as they fell 13 runs shot at 165 for 7.
On Monday, Oman will play UAE at 10 am while Ireland take on Nepal at 2 pm.
Brief scores: UAE 178-5 in 20 overs (Rohan Mustafa 54, Vriitya Aravind 50; Craig Young 4-28) beat Ireland 165-7 in 20 overs (Andy Balbirnie 42, Gareth Delany 40, Curtis Campher 40; Palaniapan Meiyappan 2-23)
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