Rashid Khan is the world’s best cricketer at present: discuss.
He has a fair claim. The game has moved on since the days when the only accepted barometer for such an assertion would have been Test-match returns.
He has not had a chance in that form at all just yet. But give him three weeks and see how he takes to it, when Afghanistan debut against India in Bengaluru. He might just find it to his liking. After all, he is taking eight wickets per match on average in his admittedly small first-class career to date.
And he is irresistible in all the other cricket he plays. Top of the rankings in T20 internationals. Dragging Afghanistan through to the World Cup from the point of no return the 50-over game.
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And now this in the Vivo Indian Premier League. Carrying his side through the playoffs like they were Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls, or peak Eric Cantona Manchester United.
Sachin Tendulkar sealed it with a tweet. “Always felt @rashidkhan_19 was a good spinner but now I wouldn’t hesitate in saying he is the best spinner in the world in this format,” Tendulkar wrote on Friday night. “Mind you, he’s got some batting skills as well. Great guy.”
Sunrisers Hyderabad are through to Sunday’s final against Chennai Super Kings because of the force of Rashid’s personality.
In the past eight days of the tournament – so when the pressure has been at its most frenzied – he has taken eight wickets. The list of victims is like an IPL/world cricket Who’s Who: Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Moeen Ali.
A couple of those would have a decent claim to be regarded as the world’s pre-eminent player themselves, especially with Steve Smith being on his enforced sabbatical.
Kohli is, clearly, ridiculous. But he has been unable to find the solution to the perennial failings at Royal Challengers Bangalore. Ditto De Villiers, who as good as conceded that time has dulled his own greatness by calling his international career last week.
The IPL eliminator play-off against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Friday night was Rashid’s masterpiece.
Until he was actively employed either with bat or ball, Sunrisers were behind the game. His 10-ball cameo with the bat worth 34 at the end of their innings gave his side something to bowl at.
But with him as one of the bowlers, maybe anything would have been defendable anyway. The wickets of Uthappa, Lynn and Russell spun the game Hyderabad’s way.
To say his charisma was magnetic seemed almost literal at points, too. Three times the ball was attracted to him in the field, with decisive consequences. One run out, and two boundary catches in the final over did for KKR. He was directly involved in six of the nine wickets to fall.
And all this when the rest of his side’s kingpins were conspicuous by their timidity. Kane Williamson – another who belongs in the “game’s best” conversation – was dismissed cheaply. Shikhar Dhawan blew out. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was dealt with. And Carlos Brathwaite failed to fire in the manner he has at the Gardens so famously in the past.
The flowering of Rashid warms the heart, especially given where he has come from. An Afghan cricketer even being the topic of such a debate is a triumph for the sport.
The IPL might not be everyone’s cup of chai, but it does a good job of letting talent flourish. Increasingly, this talent has emanated from beyond cricket’s mainstream.
The international game does not provide the same platform to thrill that Afghan players like Rashid and Mujeeb ur Rahman have had over the past two months.
Sandeep Lamichhane, briefly and belatedly, also had the chance to show to a wider audience what Nepal supporters and followers of associate cricket already knew.
And even within cricket’s established elite, players are getting opportunities from new avenues. For example, the player who might well be the one most likely to deprive Rashid an IPL winners’ medal on Sunday night had humble beginnings in the game.
When Lungi Ngidi announced himself to IPL suitors by taking six wickets in a Test for South Africa against India earlier this year, his parents watched the game on TV at the primary school where they were cleaners.
Before he cracked cricket, Ngidi and his brother once used to sell peanuts from the side of a road. Later last winter, his parents stayed in a hotel for the first time when they came to watch him play in an international in Johannesburg.
The fast-bowler’s exceptional form for Chennai in the IPL has come in spite of the heartbreak of his father’s death last month.
Ngidi or Rashid: who wins? Who knows. The only thing for certain is cricket, and the IPL, are all the better for the presence of both.
South Africa squad
Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
THE%20FLASH
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Andy%20Muschietti%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sasha%20Calle%2C%20Ben%20Affleck%2C%20Ezra%20Miller%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
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.”
We Weren’t Supposed to Survive But We Did
We weren’t supposed to survive but we did.
We weren’t supposed to remember but we did.
We weren’t supposed to write but we did.
We weren’t supposed to fight but we did.
We weren’t supposed to organise but we did.
We weren’t supposed to rap but we did.
We weren’t supposed to find allies but we did.
We weren’t supposed to grow communities but we did.
We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE.
Amira Sakalla
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
Studying addiction
This month, Dubai Medical College launched the Middle East’s first master's programme in addiction science.
Together with the Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation, the college offers a two-year master’s course as well as a one-year diploma in the same subject.
The move was announced earlier this year and is part of a new drive to combat drug abuse and increase the region’s capacity for treating drug addiction.
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
