The United Arab Emirates take on Afghanistan in three T20 matches with the first match taking place today at the ICC Academy in Dubai. The home team have not taken part in T20 cricket this year, other than their participation in the Asia Cup earlier this year where they did not win a single match. A plus point for UAE is that they managed to beat Afghanistan in the qualifiers leading up to the Asia Cup so they might fancy their chances in this series.
Despite UAE getting that win over Afghanistan earlier this year, Afghanistan are tipped as favourites going into this T20 series. Afghanistan have played a lot of cricket this year including the ICC World T20 World Cup. They managed to reach the super 10 after they topped their group defeating Scotland, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong. In the super 10, they finished last in their group but had something to cheer for as they managed to beat eventual champions West Indies in their final match.
Ghulam Shabber and Rohan Mustafa have been in great form for UAE in recent matches and they will be important players in this tournament if UAE are to pose any threat to Afghanistan. Afghanistan have the trio of Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran who have really made a name for themselves in the last few years and have helped in the rise of cricket in Afghanistan.
United Arab Emirates T20 squad
Muhammed Shanil, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Imran Haider, Shaiman Anwar, Amjad Javed(c), Mohammed Qasim, Mohammad Naveed, Ghulam Shabber, Adnan Mufti, Rameez Shahzad, Rohan Mustafa, Usman Mushtaq, Amjad Gul.
Afghanistan T20 squad
Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shenwari, Amir Hamza, Fareed Ahmad, Aftab Alam, Usman Ghani, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Najeeb Tarakai, Hazratullah, Karim Janat
Schedule
December 14 Wednesday – 1st T20 at ICC Academy, Dubai (1pm local time, 2:30pm IST, 9:00am GMT)
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