UAE facing exit from T20 World Cup after loss to Sri Lanka

MELBOURNE: The UAE were all but knocked out of the T20 World Cup after suffering a comprehensive 79-run loss to Sri Lanka.

Following their narrow loss to the Netherlands on the opening day, the UAE had to beat Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka in order to stand any chance of progressing to the Super 12s stage of the competition.

However, despite a magical spell of bowling from Karthik Meiyappan, who became the first UAE player to take a T20I hat-trick in history, the UAE collapsed in a heap with the bat, all out for 73.

“Lately the batting hasn’t clicked for us,” said Meiyappan at the close of play, “and that is something that we have to be concerned about. Firstly, to only put up 112 against the Netherlands … and today again, it felt like the batters could’ve cashed in as it felt like 152 on that wicket was quite chaseable.”

The result means that the UAE are all but officially knocked out of the competition and are still without a win in T20 World Cups after going none from two so far in Australia and losing all three of their games when they last qualified in 2014.

Matches have so far been low-scoring in Geelong, where the slow wicket combined with a thick outfield has made runs hard to come by.

And so, having won the toss and elected to field, the UAE had cause for concern when Sri Lanka got off to a flier. After five overs, the score was 47-1 with opener Pathum Nissanka (74 off 60) setting the early pace.

Along with Dhanjaya de Silva, the pair seemed to be taking the game comfortably in Sri Lanka’s direction, as they took the score to 92-1 after 11 overs and then 117-2 after 15.5.

But then carnage would ensue in the UAE’s brightest period of the game, as 22-year-old leg spinner Meiyappan, who trained with Indian