UAE Names Muhammad Waseem Captain for T20 World Cup, Yasir Arafat Joins Staff

UAE booked their place in the 20-team tournament after defeating Japan in the Super Six stage of the Asia & East Asia-Pacific Qualifier in Oman last year. The side has previously featured twice in the marquee event in 2014 and 2022 - bowing out in the group stage on both occasions.

Ahead of the World Cup, UAE are playing a two-match T20I series against Ireland, followed by warm-up fixtures against Nepal and Italy on February 3 and 6 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Their Group D campaign begins against New Zealand on February 10, before facing Canada (February 13), Afghanistan (February 16) and South Africa (February 18) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

The squad includes three players from UAE's last T20 World Cup appearance in Australia in 2022 - Waseem, Alishan Sharafu and Junaid Siddique. Waseem, who has captained the side for the past three years, has led UAE in 66 of his 92 international matches.

In the support staff led by head coach, ex-India player Lalchand Rajpur, former Pakistan pacer Yasir Arafat has joined as fast bowling coach, while Zimbabwe's Stanley Chioza will serve as fielding coach.

Arafat, who represented Pakistan in 27 international games across all formats, has coached several national teams and franchises. He will be with the UAE squad during the Ireland series and the subsequent T20 World Cup.

UAE squad: Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Dhruv Parashar, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Mayank Kumar, Muhammad Arfan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rohid Khan, Sohaib Khan and Simranjeet Singh.

- IANS