England secured a three-win victory in Dubai to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series ahead of the third and final T20 in Sharjah.  Gareth Copley / Getty Images
England secured a three-win victory in Dubai to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series ahead of the third and final T20 in Sharjah. Gareth Copley / Getty Images

Mushtaq Ahmed blames ‘lack of fitness and fielding’ for T20 series defeat to England in UAE



Pakistan’s bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed has blamed poor fielding and lack of fitness for his team’s Twenty20 series loss against England as he warned they needed huge improvement before next year’s World Twenty20.

Pakistan went down by three runs in a last over thriller in Dubai on Friday, handing England an unassailable 2-0 lead with the final match in Sharjah on Monday.

England survived Shahid Afridi’s blistering eight-ball 24 to defend a 173-run target.

Mushtaq, a former leg-spinner, said modern cricket requires fitness and better fielding which Pakistan need to improve before next year’s World Twenty20 in India.

[Exclusive: Pakistan 'given permission to play cricket matches with India in Sri Lanka']

“The modern cricket and it’s protocols have changed. We were sitting at No 2 in Twenty20 because we have skilled players but maybe we are lacking in fitness and fielding and if you analyse then it’s a fitness game,” said Mushtaq.

“The team management has to take responsibility. You have to face the reality that you have to raise your game and as coach we have to lift the performance.

“If a player is not fit but is skilful then in today’s game you need fitness more and if after taking double runs twice and you can’t hit a boundary off a bad ball then it’s a problem.”

If Pakistan lose the series 2-1 then they will join the West Indies and Australia in a three-way battle for second position behind Sri Lanka in the rankings on 118 points.

However, when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, then Pakistan will be ranked fourth.

[Shahid Afridi delights Dubai crowd but England claim narrow victory to win T20 series]

If England win the series 3-0, then they will jump to fourth position on 117 points, while Pakistan will drop to sixth position.

Mushtaq, however, blamed the poor system of domestic cricket in Pakistan.

“I think we try to teach them and give them full information but it goes down to the system, it’s a matter of our system which needs to be looked at.

“If someone gets to know in international cricket in which hand one should hold the bat and that you don’t have to look at the ball but at your partner when you take a run, then it’s quite a worrying thing.

“So we are doing our effort and the sooner we do this effort it’s better for the Pakistan team.”

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Who is Enric Sala?

Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.

What is biodiversity?

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.

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.”

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Liverpool 4 Southampton 0
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Man of the match: Diogo Jota (Liverpool)

How to wear a kandura

Dos

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16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

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Zones

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Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz

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