Mason Greenwood was quickly back in training on Friday as he joined his new team-mates on the field a day after completing a transfer to Marseille.
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Mikel Arteta's Arsenal side have enjoyed a brilliant spell in recent weeks, with the Gunners winning six Premier League games in a row, scoring 25 goals in the process.
The Gunners have been utterly dominant, with the club in a strong position to end their 20-year wait for a league title, sitting five points off leaders Liverpool – with their game in hand coming against Sheffield United on Monday evening.
Arsenal's winning run has seen the club impress at both ends of the pitch, also only conceding just three times in the process, keeping clean sheets against Crystal Palace, Burnley and West Ham United.
The run has allowed players such as William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli to flourish, with some players unlucky to be missing out despite some impressive performances.
Why Jorginho could make way vs Sheffield United
Arsenal midfielder Jorginho produced an impressive display against Newcastle United, with the former Chelsea man coming away with TNT's Player of the Match award for his efforts.
During his 89-minute performance at the Emirates, the 32-year-old completed 92 passes – the most of anyone on either side. The former Chelsea man also won four duels, with the Italian playing a key role in Arteta's three-man midfield.
Despite his positive display, he could make way for the trip to face Chris Wilder's side with Arsenal looking to close the gap opened up by Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool over the course of the weekend.
It would be a tactical change with Arteta's side potentially wanting to take advantage of the Blades' defensive frailties at home so far this season.
Wilder's side have conceded three or more goals five times at Bramall Lane this season, with United currently having the worst defensive record in the division.
With that in mind, Arteta may want to replace Jorginho with a more forward-thinking player to put the hosts under a greater threat.
The man to replace Jorginho
Given the Blades' abysmal defensive record, Arteta could choose to deploy Leandro Trossard from the start for just the tenth time this campaign.
The Belgian, who's been described as a "Santi Cazorla regen" by sports scientist Rajpal Brar, boasts an impressive record this campaign, given his limited opportunities as a starter. Trossard has scored seven and assisted once in the Premier League this campaign, with the former Brighton man averaging a goal every 131 minutes in the league.
The Arsenal boss could play Trossard as a third midfielder, with Declan Rice operating deepest, Martin Odegaard as a box-to-box and the Belgian as a more advanced option behind Kai Havertz.
Alternatively, Arteta could deploy Havertz slightly deeper, allowing Troassard to take up a false nine role, similar to how he did against West Ham United, which resulted in the 29-year-old firing home a screamer.
Arsenal will likely dominate much of the ball against Wilder's side, with the Blades' manager set to stick with his low-block five at the back system.
Arteta's side will need more bodies in attacking areas to create an overload and subsequently create more opportunities against a side that will be happy to sit in and counter-attack.
Although Jorginho has the ability to dictate the play, the game at Bramall Lane could be a great opportunity to let Rice sit at the base with Odegaard and Trossard able to play slightly higher and cause the struggling side serious problems in the attacking third.
Celtic remain two points behind their closest rivals in the Scottish Premiership title race after an emphatic 7-1 win over Dundee on Wednesday night.
Brendan Rodgers' side were incredibly ruthless at Parkhead as they took a 5-0 lead inside 36 minutes and ended the match with seven goals from ten shots on target, as Trevor Carson endured a night to forget between the sticks.
Cameron Carter-Vickers, Adam Idah, Matt O'Riley, Daizen Maeda, Greg Taylor, Connor McGregor, and Daniel Kelly all got their names on the scoresheet on the night.
Matt O'Riley was one of the stars of the game as the Danish magician showcased his immense attacking quality. However, he was not the only supremely impressive performer as right-back Alistair Johnston ran the show from his full-back position.
Matt O'Riley's statistics against Dundee
The former Fulham prospect was an influential figure in the middle of the park for the Hoops as his creative quality was on display at Parkhead.
O'Riley assisted the first with an excellent cross from a free-kick to the back post for Carter-Vickers to nod the ball past the goalkeeper from close range.
The Denmark international then scored a header of his own before registering a second assist with a pass to Maeda in the box, who turned brilliantly to fire the ball into the far corner.
Sofascore rating
9.3
Pass success rate
93%
Touches
113
Key passes
Two
Duels won
Two
As you can see in the table above, O'Riley was a constant presence in possession with the second-most touches of any players on the pitch.
He made a huge impact in the final third and remained composed enough on the ball to rarely give it away with his attempted passes throughout the game.
The statistics that show Alistair Johnston ran the show
Johnston starred for Celtic alongside O'Riley with a phenomenal display at right-back. The Canada international ran the show in possession with more touches (156) than any other player on the park.
With those touches, the right-footed dynamo created more chances (three) than O'Riley and created as many 'big chances' (one) as the impressive midfielder.
He completed more passes (118) than any other player on the pitch had touches, with a success rate of 94%, and this highlights how much of an outlet the talented gem provided the team down the right flank.
Johnston was always available for a pass and helped Celtic to control, dominate, and put the game to bed during the first half with a clinical display.
The 25-year-old whiz, who was almost faultless defensive with a duel success rate of 89% (8/9), also picked up an assist for his attacking efforts.
Just like against Motherwell on Sunday, Johnston was released down the right flank and provided a perfect cross for Idah to find the back of the net, although this time with his head rather than his left foot.
It was a fantastic all-round performance from the right-back, who also completed three of his four attempted dribbles, as he was effective and impressive with his work in and out of possession throughout the game, which is why he ran the show alongside O'Riley.
Aston Villa’s resurgence has been a mix of Unai Emery’s excellent coaching plus his nous in the transfer market.
Not only has he managed to sign players such as Moussa Diaby, Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans, but the Spaniard has also been able to move on some deadwood who, quite simply, were not in his future plans.
Cameron Archer, Ashley Young and Philippe Coutinho (on loan) have all departed the club, but it is his decision to sell Danny Ings last January which could be one of his best transfer decisions he has made during his time in the Midlands.
How much Aston Villa sold Danny Ings for
Despite scoring seven goals for Villa during the first half of the 2022/23 season, it was evident that Ings’ long-term future lay away from the club, especially following Emery’s appointment.
Towards the end of the January 2023 transfer window, Villa sold the striker to West Ham United for a £15m transfer fee and considering he was going to turn 31 in July, it was too good a fee to turn down.
His form over the previous 12 months has certainly proven that West Ham grossly overpaid for the former Liverpool centre-forward as his goal return has been abysmal.
Danny Ings’ market value at West Ham
The 31-year-old scored three goals during the second half of last season while chipping in with two assists and while the figures were hardly groundbreaking, it looked as though he could be a reliable option for David Moyes to call upon.
This season, however, Ings has been dismal. Across 22 matches in all competitions, the Englishman has failed to score and grabbed just one assist.
This has led to criticism, most notably from Andy Cole, who dubbed Ings as a “strange signing” during his appearance in the Sky Sports studio following the Carabao Cup clash between the Irons and Arsenal (via Hammers News).
Indeed, among his teammates in the top flight, Ings currently ranks in a lowly 14th position for shots per game (0.5), tenth for key passes per game (0.4) and for successful dribbles per game (0.4), suggesting that even when he does get an opportunity to shine, he fails to have a positive influence.
His form since the start of the season has seen the 5 foot 10 dud market value decline rapidly. According to Football Transfers, Ings is now valued at just €5.4m (£4.6m) and this will only continue to deteriorate as time goes on.
It is clear, judging by his performances and goal record since joining West Ham, that Villa have gotten the better end of the deal and Moyes must now be wondering why he splashed £15m on a player who was clearly on the decline.
Moving players on who no longer contribute effectively is a transfer strategy which has proven to be the best course of action for Emery to restore Villa as a top-six team in the Premier League.
With just three goals in 13 months, securing £15m for Ings may be his finest piece of transfer business yet.
The visitors are yet to taste defeat on the white-ball leg of their Caribbean tour
The Preview by Hemant Brar13-Aug-20197:52
Ganga: India need not pre-determine their No. 4 batsman
Big PictureIn the second ODI at Queen’s Park Oval, chasing 270 in 46 overs, West Indies needed 91 off 71 at one stage with six wickets in hand and a set batsman in Nicholas Pooran at the crease.Percentage cricket for a few more overs was perhaps the way to go, but Pooran played a shot that was a microcosm of West Indies’ problems in ODI cricket. Skipping down the track in a premeditated manner, he ended up mistiming a pull to Virat Kohli at midwicket.Pooran’s wicket triggered a collapse and the hosts slipped from 179 for 4 to 182 for 8, with the result all but decided.At 23, Pooran is a young man with a bright future and the promise of winning many games for his team but West Indies will be hurting after squandering the opportunity to go 1-0 up in the series.However, it wasn’t all gloom for them. Their bowlers had brought them into the match by conceding just 67 runs in the last ten overs. Come Wednesday, West Indies will have another chance – this time to level the series – as the two teams face each other at the same venue for the final ODI.India, on the other hand, will be aiming to finish the white-ball leg of the tour undefeated. As far as their search for the No. 4 batsman is concerned, it looks like Rishabh Pant has his captain’s backing for now. Though he didn’t quite convince during his 20 off 35 balls in the last match, Pant should once again slot in at No. 4.Shikhar Dhawan is yet to strike form after his return from the hand injury that cut his World Cup short, but it’s far from a worry for the team management at this moment.Form guideWest Indies LWLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India WLWWLIn the spotlightFrom the start of 2018 to the start of the World Cup, Shai Hope scored 1460 runs in 28 ODIs at an average of 66.36. More than half those runs came in just eight innings, while opening the batting. At the World Cup, where he batted mostly at No. 3, Hope had lukewarm returns – 274 runs at 34.25. After being dismissed for 5 in the second ODI, Hope will look forward to getting back among the runs.Bhuvneshwar Kumar clings onto a return catch•Associated PressFifteen wickets in five innings. A bowling average of 6.73, a strike rate of 14.0. Only Curtly Ambrose has more wickets than Bhuvneshwar Kumar at Queen’s Park Oval. With the game in the balance, it was his three wickets in seven balls that turned the second ODI in India’s favour. India will be hoping for an encore from the swing bowler.Team newsEvin Lewis, who struggled with his calf injury during the second ODI, has recovered well after a day’s rest and should be part of the playing XI. Fabian Allen is also fit and most likely will replace Oshane Thomas who went for 32 in his four wicketless overs on Sunday.West Indies (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Fabian Allen, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Sheldon CottrellWith the series still not decided, India might once again field an unchanged XI.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Kuldeep YadavPitch and conditionsThe weather is expected to be humid once again, with a forecast for showers throughout the day. Although teams batting first have won five of the last six completed ODIs here, the chance of rain might tempt the captains to bat second.The match will be played on the same pitch as the last one.Stats and trivia As an opener in ODIs, Hope has scored 860 runs at an average of 95.55 and a strike rate of 92.47. Batting elsewhere, his 1672 runs have come at an average of 38.00, with a strike rate of 69.00. In his last 20 ODIs, Kuldeep Yadav has taken only 29 wickets at an average of 32.62. Prior to that, he had 67 wickets in 33 games at an average of 20.07. Currently on 96 wickets from 53 ODIs, Kuldeep has a chance to break Mohammad Shami’s record (55 matches) for the fastest Indian to 100-ODI wickets.Quotes”The preparation is good going into the last game. The previous game we cut the preparation short [because of the rain] but today we got a full practice [session] in. The boys are in good spirits and we are looking forward to go out there tomorrow and win the game and draw the series.”
US men's national team star Brenden Aaronson is set to return to Leeds United this summer, and is determined to prove himself
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Aaronson to return to Leeds in 2024/25Spent season on-loan in BundesligaSet to play for USMNT in Copa AmericaWHAT HAPPENED?
Speaking to The Athletic, the 23-year-old revealed that he is excited to return to Leeds United this summer after spending a year away on loan in the Bundesliga with Union Berlin.
After speaking with manager Daniel Farke, the German revealed he has plans for the American in his team, and that he was excited to integrate him back into the project.
Aaronson himself is now buzzing over making his return, as he has "unfinished business" with the club.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesWHAT AARONSON SAID
“It was an awesome conversation,” Aaronson said. “The role he sees me playing, the games he watched of me, how I fit into the team, and, importantly, the things I can get better at.”
With a new sense of ambition, the American has his heart set on seeing Elland Road return to the top flight of English soccer.
“It’s a grind. It’s a challenge I want to be up for… all I care about is getting Leeds United promoted back to the Premier League.
“I know how big the club is, how much it means to people in the city,” Aaronson added. “Coming back, I’m going to do the best I can. All I want to do is bring Leeds back to the Premier League. I can’t wait to play at Elland Road in front of our fans again.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Leeds fell just short of promotion in 2024, ending the season on 90 points and falling during the English Championship playoffs. Meanwhile, Aaronson has a tough campaign in the Bundesliga with Union Berlin, who were in the relegation zone for much of the first half of the campaign.
It was a learning curve for the American, though, who had plenty of takeaways from his stint there.
“Playing in the Bundesliga is super physical, it’s just a battering,” Aaronson said. “The biggest thing I learned this year is working on physicality. I got a nutritionist and I gained six pounds of muscle mass, which is huge for me. I had to gain weight. At Union, there wasn’t a ton of football. We were without the ball much more. It forced me to get stronger and win more duels.”
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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR AARONSON
Aaronson will represent the USMNT at Copa America this summer, with their first group stage game coming on June 23 versus Bolivia. They'll follow it with matches vs Panama and Uruguay during the remainder of the group stage.
Jason Roy
Roy missed Surrey’s opening Championship fixture as he continued his recovery from a hamstring injury sustained with England in the Caribbean. His Royal London Cup started with innings of 19 and 9, and worse seemingly followed at The Oval on Tuesday, when he left the field after fours overs against Essex. Initial reports suggested another hamstring issue but that was later updated to a back spasm – and Roy was fit enough to return at the fall of the seventh Surrey wicket, scoring 19 off 11 balls to finish on 35 not out.Liam Plunkett
With Jofra Archer set to press his case for promotion to the World Cup squad, Plunkett is currently the bowler under most scrutiny. The 34-year-old switched counties over the winter, but looked rusty when taking 1 for 85 on his Championship debut for Surrey and then received further punishment at the start of the Royal London campaign – recording figures of 7-0-67-0 and 6-0-57-1 in games at Bristol and Hove. However, he did return to wicket-taking form against Essex, with 4 for 50 to go alongside an excellent catch to remove Tom Westley.Alex Hales
Despite only being contracted for white-ball cricket by Nottinghamshire, Hales was given time off for “personal reasons” and is not expected to feature for them in the Royal London Cup. Hales has recently found himself as the back-up batsman in England’s ODI squad but opened twice in the Caribbean in March, when Roy was sidelined by injury. Since that tour, Hales’ only cricket has been two T20 matches at the PSL, and although his England availability is not said to be in doubt, it is hardly ideal prep for the World Cup.Chris Woakes spreads his arms in an appeal•Getty Images
Chris Woakes
Woakes’ fitness has been closely monitored as England seek to manage his long-term knee injury. He was left out of the squad to face Ireland next week, and the subsequent T20I against Pakistan, in order to keep his workload down – and the same goes for his RLC appearances. He claimed 3 for 47 in Warwickshire’s tie with Yorkshire in their opening game before being rested as part of an agreement with the ECB for Sunday’s trip to Northampton. Got through a full ten overs, though finished wicketless, against Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston on Tuesday.Mark Wood
Second only to worries about nursing Woakes through the World Cup is the question of whether Wood can stay fit. Having come through three lots of ankle surgery to catch fire again on England’s tour of the Caribbean, where he regularly bowled in excess of 90mph, Wood was due to be available for Durham at the start of the season – specifically, the ECB pinpointed a fixture at Derby in the opening round of the Championship and RLC games on April 17 and 24. The England medical staff are reportedly exercising caution after scans on his ankle, but thus far Wood has yet to feature at all for his county.Joe Denly
Denly made his IPL debut this year, although it was not the happiest of experiences as he made a golden duck opening the batting for Kolkata Knight Riders. Having otherwise sat on the fringes, and due home by April 26 for an England training camp, Denly tweeted on Saturday that he was heading back early to get ready for the summer’s main event. Denly hasn’t actually played an ODI since 2009, but made the preliminary World Cup squad and appeared in decent touch when making 56 from 69 balls in Kent’s RLC match at Bristol. Of concern, though, was the fact he failed to take to the field during Gloucestershire’s innings with Kent assistant coach Allan Donald confirming: “Joe suffered a back spasm while batting that we need to manage.”And the good news…
Among those at the IPL, Jonny Bairstow has enjoyed a standout debut campaign, currently the tournament’s second-leading run-scorer after playing his final game, in Chennai, on Tuesday. Having scored just two half-centuries in his previous 18 white-ball innings for England, he looks to have made a timely return to form. There have also been impressive performances in India from Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali and Jofra Archer, although Ben Stokes has not had quite the same success. On the county scene, Tom Curran has been in good form, while there has been consistent game time for Eoin Morgan, Chris Jordan, David Willey and Adil Rashid. The Test captain, Joe Root, made scores of 73, 130 not out and 94 in two Championship games but has so far sat out the RLC.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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While both teams had difficulties on the slow pitch at the Bangabandhu ground, New Zealand struggled less, and won the final match of the three-match series by 83 runs. It had been a difficult strip to play on: only Scott Styris, Craig McMillan and Chris Cairns handled it well. They snatched back the initiative after Bangladesh had prised out their top order. In the end, their contribution during the late overs – 99 runs in the last ten – took the game out of Bangladesh’s reach.Styris scored 51, a responsible innings that gave his side stability after they were reduced to 105 for 4. He and McMillan put on 86 runs for the fifth wicket, and made the runway ready for a take off. That Cairns took off the way he did where others struggled to score was as astonishing as the distance of his hefty blows. In 16 balls, he smacked 34 runs. It was the third-top score of innings, and runs came far more easily than with him at the crease than when either Styris or Mathew Sinclair were. In Cairns, New Zealand had an x-factor that Bangladesh just didn’t.Though New Zealand started the day well, with a 72-run opening partnership, they looked uneasy, as if unsure of how to deal with the slow track. Sinclair and Nathan Astle tried to blast their way out when patience was required instead. They did have some success, however, against Tapash Baisya, who went for 22 in four overs before being taken out of the attack. Against the other bowlers, runs did not come quite so easily. The slow scoring rate led to Chris Harris’s promotion to No.3 in the order after Astle’ run out, but when he arrived at the crease, his innings was cut short by umpire Akhtaruddin who adjudged him leg-before to a delivery that pitched well outside the line of leg stump.Not long afterwards, Hamish Marshall followed, chipping a catch off Mohammad Rafique to Rajin Saleh (102 for 3). Sinclair, at the other end, had contributed to Astle’s run out, taking a non-existent single, but shrugged it off and continued to keep the scoreboard ticking. He managed to pierce through the wall of fielders, but had his moments of indecision, when balls just about missed the edge of his bat, and an attempted hoick over long-on flew over the man at square leg. He finally fell, chipping one back to Rafique (105 for 4).Rafique (4 for 63) had conceded only 26 runs in his first seven overs, but Styris and Cairns dented those figures. Rafique was repeatedly swatted for boundaries, and nothing he tried could stop the run-flow. Even though he removed Styris, who scored 51, as well as McMillan, who hammered back a catch, he came up against a murderous Cairns.Rafique had his moment in the sun, though, when he opened the batting for only the fifth time in 68 games. Before he was dismissed for 21, he played off-side strokes of quality. But his side were always in the doghouse after being reduced to 48 for 3, and the innings thereafter was a struggle less for success, more for survival. Nafis Iqbal scored a slow 40, and Khaled Mashud remained unbeaten on 36.The victory meant that New Zealand had won every international of the tour. But Bangladesh’s brief periods of resistance were heartening. They were beaten badly in most encounters, but were not giving up without a fight.
Bravery, consistency, and street-smarts – the qualities South Africa captain Faf du Plessis is looking for in his batsmen.Du Plessis praised “a proper batting performance” from his team after they cruised to an unassailable 3-0 series lead with their highest one-day total of the season against Sri Lanka. South Africa’s 331 for 5 was built on Quinton de Kock’s 108-ball 121 and Rassie van der Dussen’s half-century, with Andile Phehlukwayo capping the innings with a rapid cameo, and du Plessis insisted “slowly but surely things are falling into place”.South Africa’s batsmen have struggled to impose their presence collectively at home this summer, and du Plessis spoke about wanting more from his top order. “We spoke a little about the batting in the previous game, and wanting to be better and raising the standards,” he said. “Just purely on personal performance, 20s and 30s are not going to win us the World Cup.”Du Plessis’ words suggested that the standard South Africa reached on Sunday reflected what he expected of his team at the World Cup. “If you’re doing okay, that’s not enough,” he said. “We want those standards to be higher and better, because that’s what is going to be the difference. We can’t have a mediocre batting line-up and one or two guys performing at the World Cup. We need two or three guys every single game to put their hand up.”Being able to do that, he suggested, required bravery and a willingness to live and die by the mantra of positive, aggressive cricket that has been central to du Plessis and coach Ottis Gibson’s ‘Vision 2019’. “You need to be prepared to take the risks, you’re brave enough to take the risks, and you’re not scared of failing. Just playing a conservative style of cricket, I don’t believe it’s going to win you the World Cup.”Faf du Plessis embraces Imran Tahir following the wicket of Niroshan Dickwella•Getty Images
Nor, du Plessis insisted, would over-reliance on contributions from one or two players. De Kock and du Plessis are the two leading run-scorers in this series, averaging 98.66 and 102.50 respectively, but du Plessis is after collective brilliance, rather than individual glory.”We don’t want to rely on one player,” du Plessis said when asked if South Africa are still searching for someone to fill the talismanic role performed by AB de Villiers before his international retirement. “Obviously AB is a fantastic batter, but sometimes you can in the back of your mind just rely on guys like that, and that’s not the way that I want us to play as a team.”Everyone needs to contribute, every single game. You’re not guaranteed a performance, but you’re guaranteed of putting in the style of play, of putting in the hard work and raising your intensity, and trying to make sure that you can be a better player than you’ve been before. And I think slowly but surely you can see that from the players.”While South Africa don’t want to rely solely on him, de Kock has struck an ominously rich vein of form this summer, his counter-attacking style putting bowlers under pressure across formats and getting South Africa off to the sort of starts they will need in England.”It puts the bowlers under real pressure,” du Plessis said of de Kock’s ability to score quickly from the get-go. “When he’s on, you as a batting unit can take a team down. He hits good balls for four. Most batters will allow for the bowler to make a mistake and then take it to the boundary, but what he does when he’s in that mode is he hits you off your good balls and then you bowl bad balls to him. Because some bowlers will get a bit of white knuckles against him, because they fear what he does to them. So when he does do that, he almost transforms the bowling attack for the rest of the batting line up. It’s a real dangerous power that he has, and we’re lucky to have him in our side.”While de Kock has come good at the top of the order, South Africa have been missing a little vim from their lower middle-order. Against Sri Lanka on Sunday, Andile Phehlukwayo led the charge with 38 from just 15 balls as South Africa took 99 from the last ten overs – but on a dry track, against a skillful bowling line-up, it wasn’t all about blasting the ball out of the ground.”That was power hitting, but there was a lot of smart cricket through that as well,” du Plessis said of Phehlukwayo’s knock. “Once again that’s showing that Andi’s game has evolved, he’s grown into a better cricketer.”The guys are going towards the right direction. We’re making less mistakes. We’re getting better as a team. This series was about answering the questions that we had from a balance point of view, and I’m 99.9% sure we’re there where we need to be. The next two games will give the 0.1% of the things that are still in pencil.”
The series is now level at 1-1 after the team’s revival from 46 for 5 in the 11th over
ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2019Dipendra Singh Airee spared Nepal’s blushes with an unbeaten 47 as Nepal snuck past UAE by four wickets in a low-scoring thriller at ICC Academy in Dubai.Dipendra helped rescue the side after a top-order collapse left Nepal at 46 for 5 in the 11th over chasing a target of 108. But a crucial 55-run stand with Pawan Sarraf took the game into the final over. Sarraf fell off the first ball of the 20th, caught at long-on, but Dipendra crossed with the ball in the air to be on strike for the following delivery. He promptly drove the bowler Zahoor Khan for six down the ground to level the scores before a slash over backward point clinched victory with three balls to spare in front of 1000 roaring Nepalese supporters.Victory seemed assured for Nepal at the innings break but they nearly threw away the opportunity to level the series with several loose shots. Captain Paras Khadka miscued a drive to cover point off the second ball of the chase to fall for a golden duck to Mohammad Naveed. Pradeep Airee then cut Amir Hayat to the same region in the following over to make it 9 for 2.Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla fell defending down the wrong line to left-arm spinner Sultan Ahmed before two more sloppy dismissals put Nepal in a further hole. Karan KC, promoted to No. 3 as a pinch-hitter, did a reasonable job clubbing two fours and a six to reach 20 before he was bowled slogging Imran Haider’s legspin. Sundeep Jora, who had scored his maiden half-century on T20I debut a day earlier, drove Sultan to long-on for 1 on the first ball of the 11th to put half of Nepal’s line-up back in the dugout.But Dipendra held firm and found a willing ally in Sarraf. UAE had an opportunity to break the stand at 59 for 5 in the 14th when Sarraf turned down a single to backward point, but a rushed throw missed the stumps at the non-striker’s end by a long way with Dipendra still five yards short. On 15 at the time, UAE paid dearly as Dipendra saw Nepal home.The low target for Nepal was set up after another exceptional bowling effort spearheaded by Sompal Kami. The fast bowler struck twice in the space of four balls in his opening two overs, getting Ashfaq Ahmed to sky a catch to Malla running in from mid-off before Ghulam Shabber’s attempted cut resulted in a caught behind.Sandeep Lamichhane was on a hat-trick after striking on the final two balls of the Powerplay, getting Shaiman Anwar driving to point before Muhammad Usman edged his first ball to slip to make it 35 for 4. Seamer Abinash Bohara also produced a solid spell with his whippy action to take three wickets in the middle overs to keep UAE pinned back. Opener CP Rizwan battled until the 19th over to make 44 off 43 balls, but only two others reached double-figures for UAE.The two sides play the third and final match of the series at ICC Academy on Sunday.