Pakistan keen to carry momentum

ABU DHABI // Lose, you are quickly discarded, but win and you are the darling of all. But the Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik was not ready to expand on the contribution that gave his team a thrilling win over the West Indies in the first of the three-match series at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

When Kamran Akmal walked in after Malik's departure, Pakistan needed 33 runs from 17 balls. "We were behind the required run rate but I knew we had a chance with wickets in hand," he said. "I was confident Akmal would do something extraordinary." Akmal did not disappoint his captain but, for one who has opened the innings and scored five Test and four ODI centuries, coming in at No 8 after the rookie Fawad Alam, raised a few eyebrows.

The captain justified by saying: It was to have a left hand and right hand combination going." The captain clearly had his thinking cap was on while he was out in the middle. Malik led from the front with a flamboyant 66 off 50 deliveries. He had earlier chipped in with a tidy 10-over bowling spell, when the West Indies were going at over six runs per over. He was quick to attribute the win to team work and focus on the task ahead when the two teams meet again today.

"We are going into a new game and we have to do it all over again," he said. "No doubt, we can use the first game as a catalyst to move forward." The team management did not seem keen on changing a winning combination ,and that could rule out the fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar for the second game even if he regains full fitness. The fast bowler was ruled out of the opening game after he suffered a calf injury in training.

He bowled only seven overs across two spells in the practice session and the bowling coach Aaqib Javed said only Akhtar himself knows if he is ready for tonight. The coach Intikhab Alam also stressed: "Shoaib will play only if he's 100 per cent fit." The West Indies camp would have been disappointed as they were on top of the game until that dramatic last over. Chris Gayle, the captain, was upbeat of his team's chances.

"We had 294 on the board, so no complaints on that," he said. "It was a good game and a result from which we can take a lot of positives to the next match." apassela@thenational.ae

Results

Stage three:

1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-43

2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s

3. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s

4. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s

5. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s

6. Mikkel Bjerg (DEN) UAE-Team Emirates, at 24s

General Classification:

1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-13-02

2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s

3. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin Fenix, at 12s

4. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s

5. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s

6. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s

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Afghanistan squad

Gulbadin Naib (captain), Mohammad Shahzad (wicketkeeper), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

The%20specs

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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.”