Chennai, Feb 10 (IANS) Tim Seifert and Finn Allen produced a world record opening partnership of 175 runs as New Zealand thrashed the United Arab Emirates by 10 wickets in a Group C match, here at the MA Chidamabaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.
The openers from New Zealand took the flimsy bowling of their UAE counterparts apart and won convincingly to make it two out of two at Chennai for New Zealand, while the UAE were left without a win and frustrated.
The UAE captain, Mohammed Waseem, won the toss and opted to bat on a true, bouncy pitch. The intention was there right away, but Aryansh Sharma got things off to a poor start when he miscued a quick delivery from Jacob Duffy and was dismissed for 12 runs at 1/12.
The New Zealand pace attack had little impact on them as they put together an impressive second-wicket partnership of 107 runs off just 77 balls. Both Waseem and Sharafu scored fluent half-centuries, with Sharafu reaching his fifty first before Waseem brought up his 29th T20I half-century.
The UAE registered a score of 150, and some more late hits lifted their final total to 173/6 in 20 overs — the highest T20 World Cup innings ever recorded by the UAE.
Seifert and Allen batted with an intensity that was impossible to stop right from the beginning. New Zealand sped through the Powerplay, scoring 78 runs in six overs, ruthlessly putting the UAE’s fast bowlers to the sword. Overs of 20 and 22 runs were soul-destroying and eliminated any chance that the UAE had of getting back into the contest.
Both openers reached their half-centuries in no time at all, and the first 100-run partnership occurred quickly, as the ball continued to sail over the boundary time after time after time. Finn Allen was the more “subdued” of the two batters as he finished his innings with 84 runs from 50 balls, while Tim Seifert was a bull in a china shop, scoring 89 runs from only 42 balls.
Numbers Game between the New Zealand v UAE match:
107: The 107-run stand between Muhammad Waseem and Alishan Sharafu was the first century stand for an Associate team against full members in the T20 World Cup. The previous highest was 98 between Mohammad Nabi and Samiullah Shinwari against Zimbabwe in Nagpur in 2016.
173-6: UAE recorded the highest score for an Associate team v NZ in T20I, bettering Scotland’s 157/8 in Edinburgh in 2022.
175/0: Tim Seifert and Finn Allen added an unbeaten 175 runs for the first wicket. This is the highest partnership for any wicket in the T20WC.
15: Number of half-centuries scored by Tim Seifert ( 89*) in 83 matches. It was his 2nd fifty against the UAE in 4 matches.
7: Fin Allen ( 84*) recorded his 7th fifty in 55 matches.
7: This was the 7th instance when a team has won a match by 10 wickets in the T20WC.
–IANS
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