So now I have a working transmission.
Unfortunately for me MAF and Throttle assembly were not the issue.
I took it to a garage, and when they removed the sump there was clear evidence of metal shavings on the magnets. The clutch plates had started to disintegrate and of course there was now metal shavings in the valve assembly as well.
So they did a gearbox(transmission) overhaul which involved plates, valve body, sensor and some other consumables.
It came to 14,800AED which is about 4000USD (incl. labour). Ouch.
But now the car drives well. For info the car had 150k km on the clock, still I would have liked the transmission to last longer than this.
Anyway I post this as often these types of posts don't get closed with what the outcome was.
Happy z'ing.