New faces in UAE's squad for home tri-series
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will take on Afghanistan and Pakistan in a triangular series before the Asia Cup.
The UAE have named the squad for the upcoming tri-series starting 29 August, where they will be playing hosts to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Muhammad Waseem leads the squad in the tournament that precedes the Asia Cup, which is also being hosted by the UAE.
Both series will provide good cricketing outing to the Emiratis ahead of the crucial ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia and East-Asia Pacific Qualifier in Oman, where nine teams will vie for three spots in the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Assured Waseem sets up UAE with half-century | Namibia v UAE | T20WC 2022
The Asian side have made four changes since their previous international outing in July, the Pearl of Africa T20I series, where they reached the finals but lost to hosts Uganda by eight runs.
The four are Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq and Muhammad Jawadullah. While Harshit is yet to make his international debut, others have represented UAE. Of these, 32-year-old Siddique in particular has been a prolific pacer for the Emiratis with 76 ODI and 96 T20I wickets to his name.
Squad:
Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D’ Souza, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wicketkeeper), Rohid Khan and Saghir Khan.
Asif Khan hammers an unbeaten 151 for UAE against USA | CWC23 Qualifier
Asif Khan powered UAE to a commanding total against the USA at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023
Afghanistan have also named their outfit for the tri-series, which is largely similar to their Asia Cup squad, barring the absence of Naveen-ul-Haq. Pakistan had already named their squad for the tri-series, and announced that this lineup would be the same as their Asia Cup squad.
T20I tri-series schedule:
Friday, 29 August – Afghanistan vs Pakistan, 7:00pm
Saturday, 30 August – UAE vs Pakistan, 7:00pm
Monday, 1 September – Afghanistan vs UAE, 7:00pm
Tuesday, 2 September – Afghanistan vs Pakistan, 7:00pm
Thursday, 4 September – Pakistan vs UAE, 7:00pm
Friday, 5 September – Afghanistan vs UAE, 7:00pm
Sunday, 7 September – Final, 7:00pm