Esha Oza’s resistance not enough as UAE hearts are broken by giants Sri Lanka

Ahmed Raza said Esha Oza had played one of the great innings by a UAE player in defeat to Sri Lanka on Sunday night.

The national team fell agonisingly short of creating one of the biggest upsets in the history of the women’s game at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

They ultimately missed out on qualification for the Women’s T20 World Cup after finishing 15 runs short of beating the side ranked No 7 in the world.

As a sign of how close they got, it was a rare occasion of when the player of the match award was handed to a player from the losing side.

Oza, the UAE captain, received the award at the post-match ceremony. It seemed of little consolation, though, given she had shortly before appeared heartbroken after losing her wicket in the run chase.

Pursuing 150 to win, the hosts were well placed on 108 for three in the 16th over. It was at that point, though, that Oza was dismissed for 66 from 44 balls, and their challenge faltered.

Raza has witnessed the majority of the highest moments in UAE cricket’s history, via 17 years as a player in the men’s side, then subsequently on the coaching staff of both the men’s and women’s teams.

He said Oza’s innings was up there with the best by a UAE player, and would have been at the very top had she managed to stay a little while longer.

“If she had scored 15 runs more, that would have topped everything,” Raza, the head coach of the UAE women’s side, said.

“What she did as a leader, and what she did as a player coming up against the Asian giants of Sri Lanka – ranked in the top 10 for a reason – for her to play that sort of a knock, she can take a lot of pride from that.

“If only she had some more support from the other batters, we could have pulled it off. It was definitely