Aayan Khan’s five wickets go in vain as UAE lose to Hong Kong

DUBAI: Teenager Aayan Khan’s first one-day international was a five-wicket wicket as the UAE lost 67 runs to Hong Kong in the ACC Super Cup in Nepal on Friday. Hong Kong opener Anshy Rath’s century proved crucial to the final result of the Over-50 race.

After opting to play, Emirates were able to limit Hong Kong to 263 balls in eight innings, Russ thwarted the Emirates attack by calculatingly knocking a wicket that provided a lot of help to the spinners. The UAE responded by winning 117-6 when rain led to an early end and the UAE lost by 67 points.

“I was happy with my performance but I was sad to lose the game. Overall it was a good day for me, it was my first 5 wickets in ODI against a team A strong team is good news,” Aayan Khan told Gulf News in Nepal.

Playing his 14th ODI, the experienced Rameez Shehzad and 21-year-old Aryan Lakra were in good position for 104 runs, a partnership of 73 when the floodgates opened under dark skies. Leading chase for the third wicket. Emirates lost four wickets in the space of 20 balls, including Shehzad, Asif Khan, Rohan Mustafa and Aayan Khan. Four wickets changed the equation in Hong Kong’s favour, as Yu stopped the tie with the UAE 117-6.

“We started as usual but it was difficult for the new batsmen to see where the ball was going. After four wickets we had a good par in the DLS,” added Aayan.

The Hong Kong opener and Kinchit Shah must have had some happy memories of the UAE after proposing to his girlfriend during last year’s Asian Cup in Dubai, and he set up a crucial 67-run partnership for the third wicket when left-arm Aayan started coming in Action, dismiss the next five batters.

But Rath has been working with the small partners to make sure Hong Kong has something to defend before 106 is out, and it’s done a good job. All-rounder Sanchit Sharma took two wickets while Junaid Siddique ended Rath’s 117-ball stay.

However, the UAE all-rounders are confident of securing a place in the semi-finals as they have two games against Bahrain and Singapore.

“We still have two games to play. We are looking forward to these two games because winning both games will give us a place in the semi-finals,” Aayan said.

Kushal Malla’s 108 and Sompal Kami’s half-century helped hosts Nepal beat Oman by 84 runs. Chasing a goal for 311 in 50 overs, leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane hit three early strikes to push Oman on the back foot, from which they could not recover enough to overturn the goal.