India captain Rohit Sharma has heaped praise on Shubman Gill after his rise to No 1 in the one-day international batting rankings on the eve of their Champions Trophy opener.
The Indians face Bangladesh at Dubai International Stadium on Thursday. They were runners up the last time the competition was played, nearly eight years ago, when they lost the final to Pakistan in London.
The competition is being played in two countries after the Indian government ruled their national team could not tour Pakistan.
While the competition was getting under way in Karachi with a game between Pakistan and New Zealand, just over 1,000 kilometres away in Dubai, the Indians were making their final preparations.
They enter the event in fine touch. They thrashed England in a warm-up series this month, during which time Gill announced his return to form with some heavy scoring.
The 25-year-old batter had been run shy during India’s Test tour of Australia in the winter. He bounced back with scores of 87, 60 and 112 against England, rising to the top of the ICC’s ODI standings in the process.
Gill is now Rohit’s understudy, and the captain said he never had any concerns about his prowess in the 50-over format.
“Gill is a very, very classy player,” Rohit said. “There was never a doubt about his ability in this squad. If you mix formats, I don’t think that is the right way to judge any player.
“All players have their strengths in certain formats. If one format doesn’t go well it doesn’t mean that another format will be the same.
“It is there for all of us to see what happened in Australia. Things have changed, certainly in a different format.
“Gill’s numbers are crazy. He has been superb for us in the past three or four years that he has batted. There is a reason he has been elevated to be the vice captain of the team.
“I hope he has a great tournament and that will help us achieve the things we are looking forward to [doing].”
Rohit played down the idea that Champions Trophy success has played on India’s minds given the long hiatus since the last competition. He reasoned that all ICC tournaments are coveted.
“Every title, every ICC trophy that we play for, it is so important,” he said. “Not just in this Champions Trophy, but all the previous World Cups, they were all important for us.
“We come here thinking that we want to lift the trophy but there are so many things we have to do before holding on to it.
“As a team our focus will be on how we can do things right on the field, and how we can move forward. It is a very important tournament.”
All India’s matches will be played in Dubai, no matter how far they make it. The first semi-final is being staged in Sports City, whether India make it through the group phase or not, and the final will also be there if Rohit’s side reach that point.
They have been regular visitors to the city in recent years, including staging a section of the Indian Premier League there during Covid.
“It does assist all types of bowlers so as a batter you have to be mindful of that and try to assess as quickly as possible,” Rohit said of the challenge of playing in Dubai.
“That is what I have done here. Not just here, but anywhere, you try to assess as quickly as possible, then your instinct and your batsmanship, plus the situation of the team, take over.”
While the tournament has been rescheduled so that India’s matches are played in Dubai, the switch could also work in Bangladesh’s favour.
They might be underdogs in the competition, but they are extremely well supported in the UAE. Their age-group side even attracted sizeable crowds when they won the two most recent Under 19 Asia Cups in Dubai.
“Wherever we are going to play, there are a lot of supporters,” said Nazmul Hossain Shanto, the Bangladesh captain.
“They supported us when we win, when we lose. So that is a big part in this game and we feel the crowd will come tomorrow and support us.
“If you look at all eight teams – they are quality teams. And against India, Pakistan, New Zealand, we have good memories.
“We won a couple of matches in recent times. Last year, when we played India in Bangladesh, we have some good memories from then. But that is past, if we play well tomorrow and execute our plan, we will have a good match.”
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Stamp duty timeline
December 2014: Former UK finance minister George Osbourne reforms stamp duty, replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 - 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; Over £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak decides the fate of SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget, with expectations he will extend the perk unti June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
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England's all-time record goalscorers:
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
