Fears the UAE would be a banana peel for the Black Caps to slip on at the Twenty20 World Cup in India were greatly exaggerated.
In a tournament that’s so far seen more than one minnow give the game’s elite a scare, New Zealand cruised to a 10-wicket victory at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, to go two-from-two.
Even after captain Mitchell Santner lost the toss for the second game in a row, an unchanged Black Caps side made light work of a target of 174 runs, and got home with 28 balls to spare.
At the halfway stage, UAE captain Muhammad Waseem said his side were 15 runs short. The reality for the UAE was much worse.
While the UAE’s total was built on a 107-run stand between Waseem (66 not out off 45) and Alishan Sharafu (55 off 47), the opening pair of Finn Allen and Tim Seifert brutalised the UAE’s attack to hammer the biggest partnership in T20 World Cup history, 175 runs.
Fresh from a man-of-the match display in the opening win over Afghanistan on Sunday, Seifert plundered 89 not out from 42 balls, with 12 boundaries and three sixes to move to the top of the tournament’s run-scoring charts for good measure.
Meanwhile, after he missed out against Afghanistan 48 hours earlier, Allen walked off with an unbeaten 84 from 50 balls, with five fours and five sixes.
Following Sunday’s win over Afghanistan at the same venue, this victory sees the Black Caps take a huge step towards advancing to the next stage, barring defeats against South Africa and Canada and other results going against them.
With just a one day turnaround between their first two matches, the Black Caps will now travel to Ahmedabad, where they’ll meet the Proteas in the early hours of Sunday morning (NZ time).
Despite Jacob Duffy (1-16) taking a wicket with his third ball, the UAE were positive inside the power play, and chalked up 50 runs in the first six overs.
Waseem and Sharafu needed just 35 balls for their first 50 runs together, but the Black Caps bowlers were able to keep the pair from getting away on them - as the UAE crept from 50-1 after the power play to 77-1 at halfway.
Sharafu took the attack to Lockie Ferguson (1-35), before reaching his 50 by launching Matt Henry (2-37) over wide long-on for a six that also raised the UAE’s 100.
A spectacular boundary relay catch between Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell to remove Sharafu off Santner (1-23) broke the century stand, and saw the UAE unable to build on the platform they’d been set, as the Black Caps largely kept Waseem off strike.
After bringing up his 50 from 37 balls in the 17th over, Waseem only faced a further eight deliveries in the innings. Even as one Glenn Phillips (1-30) over went for 27 runs, the UAE lost regular wickets at the death to finish with 173-6, having been 119-1.
Defending 174, the UAE initially did well to keep the Kiwi opening pair quiet. Once Junaid Siddique entered the attack in the fourth over - which Allen and Seifert took for 22 runs - the Black Caps never looked like losing.
While the UAE’s openers added 50 in 36 balls, New Zealand needed only 27 - which Allen celebrated with an 87-metre six over midwicket.
Not to be outdone, Seifert belted a Muhammad Rohid slower ball for a 92-metre maximum, and followed back-to-back drives for four down the ground, as the openers hammered 78 runs in the power play.
A boundary over cover off Haider Ali took Seifert to his third 50 in his last five internationals, this one coming in just 23 deliveries to better his 39-ball effort against Afghanistan. At the other end, Allen needed 27 balls to pass 50, with the only blemish on his innings being friendly fire with a straight drive that took out Seifert as the non-striker.
When Seifert lofted Muhammad Arfan for a boundary back over his head, the Black Caps’ target moved to less than a run-a-ball, with 11 overs remaining.
Allen cleared wide long-on to not only bring up the 150-run stand, but also hit his 100th six in T20 Internationals, before Seifert put a full stop on the chase with a straight six for the pair to walk off unbeaten.
UAE 173-6 (Waseem 66 not out; Henry 2-37)
New Zealand 175-0 (Seifert 89 not out, Allen 84 not out)
New Zealand win by 10 wickets
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.