Four promising youngsters have earned their spots in the 14-member UAE T20I squad for the three-match bilateral series against Afghanistan which starts on Friday at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Dhruv Parashar, Omid Rahman, Tanish Suri and Samal Udawaththa were all rewarded for impressive performances in the recent ACC Men’s U19 Asia Cup and on the domestic circuit.
Parashar and Omid performed exceptionally well in UAE’s historic run to the final of the rAsia Cup, where they lost ito Bangladesh.
Off-spinner Parashar, who is also a handy batter, took 10 wickets in the tournament while Omid took five wickets with his right-arm pace bowling. Wicketkeeper-Batter Tanish Suri scored 163 runs in his five Asia Cup innings.
Samal Udawaththa has made a mark in various domestic tournaments in recent months including the ILT20 Development Tournament where he scored 111 runs in five innings.
The UAE will be led by Mohammed Waseem was took over the captaincy from CP Rizwan in March this year where he first led the side in the 2023 UAE Tri-National Series.
This is the second bilateral series between the two sides in the UAE this year. It is part of the Emirates Cricket Board’s long-term strategy of providing regular opportunities to UAE players of playing against the ICC’s Full Members.
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The series would be broadcast live on RTA Sports – Afghanistan, Fancode – India, A Sports – Pakistan, Willow TV – USA and Sportseye on Facebook/YouTube – UAE and rest of the world.
UAE squad
Muhammad Waseem (captain), Ali Naseer, Aayan Afzal Khan, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Khalid Shah, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Junaid Siddique, Nilansh Keswani, Omid Rahman, Raja Akifullah, Samal Udawaththa, Tanish Suri and Vriitya Aravind.
UAE vs Afghanistan T20I series
Sharjah Cricket Stadium
29 December – First T20I – 6:00pm
31 December – Second T20I – 6:00pm
2 January – Third T20I – 6:00pm