It was barely four months ago that the UAE came tantalisingly close to pulling off the biggest shock in the history of women’s cricket.
Against a hugely experienced Sri Lankan team in the semifinal of the Global Qualifiers for the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, the UAE, chasing 150, were in cruise control at 104 for two in the 15th over only to suffer a stunning collapse, eventually going down by 15 runs in what was a heartbreaking defeat.
Victory in that semifinal would have earned them a place at the 2024 T20 World Cup, which the UAE will host from October 3.
Rubbing shoulders with the world’s biggest stars in the global showpiece would have been the greatest achievement for a country that did not even have a proper system for women’s cricket until 15 years ago.
But the spirited bunch of UAE cricketers put that agonising defeat behind them with a memorable win in a tri-series against Zimbabwe and Namibia, both higher-ranked teams, last week.
Esha Oza’s team won five out of six matches in the tournament in Windhoek to clinch the biggest title in their history.
Theertha Satish, the wicketkeeper-batter who scored 245 runs in six matches, admitted that the pain of defeat to Sri Lanka would never heal. But it helped the girls find a new purpose in their path to cricketing excellence.
“The pain (of losing the Global Qualifier semifinal to Sri Lanka) will always be there, but I think that pain gave us the direction, on how we want to play our cricket and how we want to take our game forward,” Satish told the Khaleej Times on Monday.
“As I said, the pain can never be erased, but it can be directed to be something very useful in our cricket development.”
Skipper Esha, who scored 209 runs and took eight wickets in the tournament with her off-spin, said the team was determined to beat the two more experienced sides in the tournament.
“It was a great series for us, last time we played a tournament in Namibia, but we could not make it to the final. This time we won the tournament by winning five out of six matches, so it feels amazing now,” she said.
“In the batting department, Theertha, the way she started her innings, the way she put the pressure back on the rival bowlers throughout the tournament, that’s something we had been looking to do for a long time and it is finally paying off now.
“Our bowlers also did an amazing job, especially the way they bowled in the powerplay. I think the whole squad played like a champion team. We went out wanting to win badly and we did just that.”
Great start
The UAE got off to a great start in the tournament by beating hosts Namibia by seven wickets in the first match on September 6.
They suffered their only setback in the second game when they lost to Zimbabwe by three wickets in a low-scoring last-over thriller.
From then on, the UAE were unstoppable, recording four straight wins to clinch the title, their first in a tournament featuring higher-ranked opponents.
“It was a hard-fought series where most games went right down to the wire and we showed a lot of character in crunch moments,” head coach Ahmed Raza said.
“Winning away from home in different conditions is always special and beating a full member on our way to lifting the trophy was a testament to the hard work of our players.”
2026 World Cup
Raza, a former left-arm spinner under whose captaincy the UAE men’s team had qualified for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, has now set his sights on the big tournament in his role as the head coach of the women’s team.
“We want to play a style of cricket which is fearless and take the game head on,” he said.
“It’s only a start, this team is hungry and wants to hunt down bigger teams. Our major goal is qualifying for the 2026 T20 World Cup.”
Satish echoed the sentiments of her coach.
“Every tournament is going to be different. What we can do is get stronger and play the game the way we want to play in every match,” she said.
“The (2026) World Cup is a goal, but we also have the qualifiers for the Asia Cup. So we want to go through match by match.”