In a record-shattering effort, United Arab-Emirates' (UAE) Asif Khan scored the fastest century ever by any player from an associate nation in One Day Internationals (ODI) on Thursday. His innings came in UAE's match against Nepal which was played in Kirtipur. While UAE innings witnessed other superb peformances like their captain's 63 off 49 deliveries and wicketkeeper-batter Vriitya Aravind's 94 off 138, Khan's innings was the highlight of the innings.
The 33-year-old did not have the most destructive of all starts but went berserk in the second half of his innings as he put his foot on the accelerator looking for quick runs in the death overs. Eventually, he finished with a total of an unbeaten 101 off 42 deliveries as he entered into the record books which might stay unbroken for a while.
Asif was dominant throughout his innings and none of the opposition bowlers seemed to have any answers to his range of shots. His knock included four boundaries and 11 sixes. Nepal captain Rohit Paudel looked helpless as even his star spinner Sandeep Lamichhane wasn't as effective as he usually is and went on to give away 80 runs in his ten overs.
Riding on the superb performances from their batters, UAE have managed to post 310 runs on the board in their quota of 50 overs. While Nepal have been in good form in their recent matches, this would be a daunting task for them especially after having lost their first four wickets with 98 runs on the board.
UAE would now be determined to clinch a big win in this fixture as it would reflect on the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 where they currently placed sixth. The table is currently being topped by Scotland who have 50 points from 36 matches.