Chirag Suri back on song as UAE defeat Germany in T20 World Qualifier

Chirag Suri might have marked his 27th birthday on Friday in unbecoming fashion with a first-ball duck in the UAE’s opening day win over Ireland in the T20 World Cup Qualifier.

All he was really doing was delaying the celebration for 24 hours. A day later he made a sparkling return to run-scoring form with 81 runs, and the man of the match award in victory over Germany at the Oman Cricket Academy.

It says much about the focus of the national team on their sole goal – a place at the World Cup – that Suri was in little mood to toast his latest milestone after the 24 run win in Muscat on Saturday.

Instead, he pointed out that his side had dropped short of the high standards they had set so far on tour, and felt that he had let the chance of a hundred slip through his hands.

The opener was out in the 20th over, after an innings comprising just 54 balls, but he felt he had let his scoring rate dip when he might have accelerated in the closing overs.

Zahoor Khan of UAE celebrates a wicket during the T20 World Cup Qualifier against Ireland in Muscat, Oman. All images by Subas Humagain

“It was good to get some runs and some time in the middle after yesterday, but I felt I could have finished the game better,” Suri said.

“There was a hundred out there for the taking but I wasn’t clinical enough. These are things you have to look at, and go back and hopefully correct before the bigger games.”

Suri put on 83 for the first wicket with Muhammad Waseem, who made 50 in 30 balls, within the first nine overs of the UAE innings.

He shared 94 for the third wicket with Vriitya Aravind (40), too, as UAE made their way to 191-5 from their 20 overs.

Germany proved to be no pushovers as they were 85-1 in the 10th over, and 121-4 in the 16th,