Dubai: UAE skipper Mohammad Naveed wants to carry the form that his team exhibited during the recent tour to Netherlands at the oncoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier commencing from October 18 in UAE. All the UAE matches will be played at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Cricket Stadium.
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Speaking to Gulf News from the team’s coaching camp being held at the ICC Academy, Naveed said: “We have a very good in-form team, fresh from the clean 4-0 sweep, we inflicted on Netherlands in Netherlands conditions.”
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Emirates Cricket Board member and chief selector Waleed Bukhatir announced the 15-member squad that will strive to top the pool and secure direct qualification into the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 (in Australia) stating: “We are confident in our side’s abilities to help make this a reality.”
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Naveed is confident mainly due to the form that his players have been exhibiting in recent matches.
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“All our players have been performing well. Shaiman Anwar has been in brilliant form during the Global T20 in Canada. Playing for Winnipeg Hawks he scored consistently throughout,” said Naveed. Anwar hit scores of 43, 31, 62 and 52 in the semi-final and 90 in the final.
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Naveed is also happy that young Chirag Suri too scored heavily as an opener. “Suri played alongside India’s Yuvraj Singh-led Toronto team in Canada and scored 52 runs. All seniors including Rohan Mustafa are in form. Our coaches have been working hard on everyone’s batting, bowling and fielding,” added Naveed.
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“The new face in the team is Zawar Farid who has been very consistent in domestic cricket. Our bowling attack has a mix of good pacers and experienced spinners and since matches are being held on our home ground, we have an additional advantage. We hope we will qualify to play in the T20 World Cup in Australia next year,” said Naveed.
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UAE is in Group B alongside Ireland, Oman, Hong Kong, Canada, Jersey and Nigeria and all matches will be day-night encounters started from 7.30pm.
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Team: Mohammad Naveed (C), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmad, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammad Usman, Mohammad Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmad Raza, Sultan Ahmad, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Chirag Suri and Zahoor Khan.
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