At the end of a night illuminated by imported talent, the hero of the opening game the third season of DP World International League T20 was an uncapped 20-year-old who aspires to a future with the UAE national team.
With an over left of his debut in big time cricket, Farhan Khan was left with a daunting prospect. He had to defend 12 to tie and 11 to win, and at the other end was one of the format’s greatest ever batters, Kieron Pollard.
The equation was whittled down to six off the last. Pollard drilled a length ball to long on. Everyone held their breath. It fell just short of the boundary rope, and Farhan could breathe again, before he was enveloped by his thrilled Dubai Capitals teammates.
For so much for opening night it seems as though the competition had picked up exactly where it left off 11 months earlier. Deafening pyrotechnics exploding above the Ring of Fire floodlights at Dubai International Stadium on Saturday night. And then fireworks from Nicholas Pooran and Fazalhaq Farooqi setting up a win for MI Emirates against the Capitals on the field.
The same duo were straight back into the old routine in the first game of the UAE T20 franchise tournament’s third season – which was a reprisal of last year’s final.
Farooqi took five for 16, the best figures in the two-seasons-and-one-game history of the ILT20, before captain Pooran blazed a vicious half century.
The night was not short of glitz. There was Bollywood glamour for the opening ceremony. As the players on the field ran through their warm ups, they had to wait for the smog to abate after a dazzling fireworks display from the stadium roof.
As the Bollywood stars were paraded to the crowd from the back of an ILT20-branded Tesla Cybertruck after finishing their set, the lights started to raise ahead of gametime.
The organisers said ticket sales had been going so well ahead of the opener that they expected a full house. It fell a long way short – maybe around half house, taking into account all the seats that were blocked out for the stage for the dancers.
They also said they expected the cricket to remain the star of the show, despite the money shelled out on getting the Bollywood trio in for the night. That, at least, proved correct. The crowd swelled substantially once the cricket itself had started.
To start with, the fare they were presented with was lukewarm. Both sides struggled to score at the start of their innings. The Capitals had been invited to have first use of a patchy-looking pitch, and it was not easy going.
By halfway through their innings they only had 54. They were thankful for Brandon McMullen, the Scotland all-rounder who is in the running to be the ICC’s Associate cricketer of 2024, for reaching 133-8. He made 58 from 42 balls to announce himself to a public who would not likely have known who he was at the start.
Even with his salvo, they were unable to get away to any sort of significant score, due mainly to the continued brilliance of Farooqi, who was the tournament’s leading wicket taker last season. His five-wicket haul included three in the last over he bowled, the penultimate one of the innings.
The Capitals’ total felt paltry, given the firepower of the defending champions’ batting line up. They gave themselves a shot at an upset, though, with a fine new ball burst from Olly Stone. The England fast bowler fired out Muhammed Waseem and Andre Fletcher in quick succession.
When Farhan, the debutant UAE fast bowler, then took a wicket and held a catch, MI were in deep trouble on 23-4.
The Capitals might have felt ahead of the game, but they will have known the job was never done while Pooran was still at the wicket.
The West Indies batter said after claiming the player of the match award in last year’s final that he was a child of T20 cricket. The way he performed in the first game of the new season just went to show that nobody does the format better.
Pooran blazed four sixes in his sparkling innings of 61 from 40 balls. He fell before victory was sealed, though, and his wicket was seminal.
Stone closed with 2-14 from his four overs, while Gulbadin Naib’s 3-13 was also crucial, but the hero at the last was Farhan who eked out a one-run win.
Leading all-time NBA scorers
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
Kobe Bryant 33,643
Michael Jordan 32,292
LeBron James 31,425
Wilt Chamberlain 31,419
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
England Test squad
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.
More coverage from the Future Forum
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh12 million
Engine 8.0-litre quad-turbo, W16
Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch auto
Power 1479 @ 6,700rpm
Torque 1600Nm @ 2,000rpm 0-100kph: 2.6 seconds 0-200kph: 6.1 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
What is an FTO Designation?
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
Source: US Department of State
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20WonderTree%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20April%202016%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Muhammad%20Waqas%20and%20Muhammad%20Usman%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Karachi%2C%20Pakistan%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%2C%20and%20Delaware%2C%20US%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Special%20education%2C%20education%20technology%2C%20assistive%20technology%2C%20augmented%20reality%3Cbr%3EN%3Cstrong%3Eumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E16%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGrowth%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Grants%20from%20the%20Lego%20Foundation%2C%20UAE's%20Anjal%20Z%2C%20Unicef%2C%20Pakistan's%20Ignite%20National%20Technology%20Fund%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Levante v Real Mallorca (12am)
Leganes v Barcelona (4pm)
Real Betis v Valencia (7pm)
Granada v Atletico Madrid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Real Madrid v Real Sociedad (12am)
Espanyol v Getafe (3pm)
Osasuna v Athletic Bilbao (5pm)
Eibar v Alaves (7pm)
Villarreal v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Real Valladolid v Sevilla (12am)
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16. first leg
Atletico Madrid v Juventus, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
