USA Beat UAE by 5 Wickets — Shubham Ranjane's Four Wickets and Shehan Jayasuriya's 83 Seal a Third Win of the Week in Dallas

For an hour and a half in Dallas, the UAE batted like a side that had learned something from a difficult week. Muhammad Shahdad and Harpreet Singh had them at 131 for 2 in the 29th over, and a total well past 250 was in view. Then USA did what table-toppers do: they waited, took one wicket, and then took the next three before the UAE could reset.

United Arab Emirates 213 all out (46.3 overs). United States of America 214/5 (38.4 overs). USA won by 5 wickets with 68 balls remaining. Shubham Ranjane, with 4 for 39 and 14 not out at the finish, was Player of the Match.

USA chose to field and Ranjane struck with the eighth ball of the match, Tanish Suri caught behind by Smit Patel for 1. Nosthush Kenjige removed Adeeb Usmani in the 12th over, the same way, and the UAE were 56 for 2 at the first drinks break. Shahdad and Harpreet Singh then added 98 from 103 balls before Hassan Khan held a return catch to remove Harpreet for 48 in the 29th over.

The innings turned between the 34th and 39th overs. Saurabh Netravalkar had Rahul Chopra caught behind at 160, and Ranjane then bowled Basil Hameed and, at the end of the 37th over, Shahdad for 79. Akshdeep Nath was caught behind off Ranjane two overs later. Four wickets had fallen for 17, from 160 for 3 to 177 for 7. Netravalkar returned to take two more and finish with 3 for 23 from 9.3 overs, and Smit Patel ended the innings with five catches behind the stumps.

The chase began badly — Monank Patel bowled by Muhammad Arfan for 0 in the second over — but Shehan Jayasuriya batted with real composure. He put on 75 with Smit Patel, 65 with Sanjay Krishnamurthi and 44 from 34 balls with Milind Kumar, reaching fifty from 65 balls. When Arfan bowled Milind and then Jayasuriya for 83 within three overs, USA were 189 for 5 with 25 still needed; Ranjane and Hassan Khan knocked them off without further alarm, with 68 balls to spare.

There was a great deal to like in the UAE's first 33 overs. Shahdad, who made 114 against the same opponents on October 5, added 79 from 105 balls with two sixes, and Harpreet Singh's 48 from 53 gave him a partner who kept the scoreboard moving. At 155 for 3 at the second drinks break, after 32 overs, the platform was there.

What followed was the same story as against Namibia two days earlier: a cluster of wickets that took the innings away. Awais Ali Shah's unbeaten 24 lifted them past 200, but 213 was at least 50 short of what the start had promised.

Muhammad Arfan's ten overs for 38 and three wickets — including Jayasuriya — deserved better, and Akshdeep Nath's seven overs cost only 24. But the UAE gave away 22 extras, and once the target was in the low 200s, USA's batting had room to breathe.

We weren't at the ground. Grand Prairie has offered very different matches this week: 330 and 332 on October 5, 298 and 299 on October 7, then 134 and 135 on October 9. Here, both sides made steady rather than rapid progress early — 28 for 1 and 38 for 1 after ten overs — and the side that kept wickets in hand in the middle overs won comfortably. Whatever the pitch offered, it was the collapses rather than the surface that decided the last two matches here.

Ranjane's four wickets came at both ends of the UAE innings. The first, Suri in the second over, set the tone. The other three — Basil Hameed, Shahdad and Akshdeep Nath — came in the space of three overs when the UAE were trying to build on 160 for 3, and they turned a match that was finely balanced into one USA controlled. Ten overs, two maidens, 39 runs.

And he was there at the end, too: 14 not out from 21 balls, including a six, to see the chase home. Some players are picked for what they do with the ball and some for what they do with the bat. On Sunday, Ranjane was both, and USA needed both.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

USA have now won three matches in a week at Grand Prairie — against the UAE on October 5, Namibia on October 7 and the UAE again here. They stay top of the League 2 table with 49 points from 35 matches (24 wins, net run rate 0.678), four ahead of Scotland (45 from 36), with Netherlands third on 38 and Oman fourth on 33.

The UAE remain eighth with 19 points from 32 matches (8 wins, net run rate -0.920). This match showed a top order capable of building a platform; what they need now is a middle order that can stand on it.