The United Arab Emirates will be sending the oldest and yet the least experienced squad to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. While the average age of their 15-man touring party is 32.48, they only have a combined total of 71 ODI caps. This is just one of the intriguing paradoxes behind the UAE national team, the lowest-ranked side in Group B.
The UAE played at the World Cup for the first time in 1996. Led by the inimitable Sultan Zarawani, who faced the fearsome pace bowler Allan Donald wearing only a grey sun-hat during their first match, they finished fifth in their group. While they never looked like troubling any of the Test-playing nations, they cruised to victory over the Netherlands in the first-ever official ODI between two associate (non-Test-playing) nations.
The UAE have only played 17 further ODIs, and have never defeated a top-ten nation, but they may well fancy their chances in this year’s competition. Their former captain, Khurram Khan, hit a rich vein of form in the recent bilateral series against Afghanistan, recording scores of 53, 132* and 85*. At 43, he became the oldest man to score an ODI century. If the team are to make their mark on the World Cup this year, they will need more of the same for the most-capped player in UAE ODI history (with 10).
Early in 2015, Khurram Khan was replaced as UAE skipper by another fortysomething, Mohammed Tauqir (coincidentally, they were both born on June 21, 1971, according to ESPNcricinfo). The rationale for the decision isn’t easily clear: as a player, Tauqir’s contributions are far less important than Khan’s, and the latter is an experienced leader of the national side. However, Tauqir is also a rarity among UAE cricketers: someone who was born in the country.
The cricket-playing community in the UAE is mostly composed of expatriates from the Test nations on the subcontinent like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. In a country where status matters, and the immigrant population outnumbers the locals nine to one, the decision to elevate Tauqir to the captaincy just before the World Cup may well be motivated by his Emirati heritage.
The UAE squad is amply supplied in the wicketkeeping department, with Swapnil Patil, Saqlain Haider and Amjad Ali all recognised stumpers. Sri Lankan-born Andri Berenger has made an impressive start to his career with the UAE with two fifties in four innings, and is by some way the youngest member of the squad.
Like several other teams, the UAE lost bowlers to the recent crack-down on illegal actions, with Salman Farooq and Mohammad Shahzad both missing out on the final 15 after being reported during the ODI series against Afghanistan. Mohammad Naveed, Fahad Alhashmi and Kamran Shahzad will be expected to form the main seam attack, with assistance from Khan and Tauqir in the spin department.
The UAE’s preparations for the tournament ended well, with Khurram’s runs helping them to a 3-1 series victory over associate rivals Afghanistan. They will need to carry as much of that momentum as possible if they are to make history in Australia and New Zealand.
If you do manage to catch a UAE game at the World Cup, savour the experience like you would if you saw a rhino in the wild. The ICC plan to reduce the size of future World Cups to ten teams, and while there remains a technical pathway for associates like the UAE to qualify for the tournament, the odds are heavily stacked in favour of the bigger nations.
In terms of expectations for the World Cup, it is unlikely that the UAE will make the knockout stages. They know that their clashes with Ireland and Zimbabwe will be their best chances of recording a victory. Claiming the scalp of Zimbabwe, who have looked at sea in ODI cricket since beating Australia earlier this year, is a genuine possibility for the men in grey.
However, given that their future as a cricketing nation remains under an ominous cloud, the most important fixtures for the UAE may well be their high-profile matches against India and Pakistan. The eyes of millions will be on Mohammed Tauqir and his men; and if they can put in a credible performance, or even sneak a win, against one of the major teams, they will have left an indelible mark on world cricket that no reorganisation of the World Cup could ever erase.
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