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Dubai: Saudi Arabia shocked defending champions UAE in the opening match of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy.
UAE won the toss and elected to field. Saudi Arabia piled up 228 for 9 in 50 overs and restricted UAE to 199 runs in 30 overs.
UAE had won this tournament four times and were looking forward to make it five in a row. They had also not lost a single match in the ACC Trophy since 2000. By virtue of their dominance in the ACC Trophy they had been able to play twice in the Asia Cup.
The UAE is in pool A along with Saudi Arabia, Afghanisthan, Bahrain and Malaysia. Today they take on another strong team, Afghanistan, at the Bayuemas Oval ground.
The UAE team is being led by Khurram Khan, who replaced Saqib Ali. The team had left for the tournament after training in very hot conditions and some of the players were not available for training due to work commitments.
Another shock
Meanwhile, Nepal too shocked Hong Kong, who were runners up of the ACC Trophy last year.
Despite an impressive performance in the recent Asia Cup in Pakistan against Pakistan, Hong Kong lost by 44 runs. Nepal made 245 for 7 and restricted Hong Kong to 201 for 9 in 50 overs.
Hosts Malaysia beat Bahrain by 33 runs. Malaysia scored 267 for 8 in 50 overs and restricted Bahrain to 234 in 49.2 overs.
The winners and runners up of this tournament will qualify to play in the next Asia Cup.
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