DUBAI The Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Cricket Development Officer Venkatapathy Raju says the UAE national team have transformed into a fine and competitive outfit thanks to the efforts of the support staff led by head coach Aaqib Javed.
Raju, who was in the UAE to oversee the final preparations of the team before they departed for Bangladesh, told XPRESS: “There has been a lot of hardwork behind this success story. Aaqib has completely changed the team. The support staff has done a commendable job and the results are there for everyone to see.”
The UAE, led by Khurram Khan, will participate in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup from March 16 to April 6 in Bangladesh.
The UAE are in Group B (qualifiers) along with Zimbabwe, Ireland and the Netherlands. Group A has Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Hong Kong. The top team from each group enter the second round.
Khan’s side play their first group match against Netherlands on March 17 followed by their second match against Ireland on March 19. Their last group match is against Zimbabwe on March 21.
“It’s not an easy task to bring together a team as most players have full-time jobs,” said the former Indian cricketer, who is in charge of UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Thailand.
Raju, who took over the role in ACC early last year, was, however, confident that the UAE would make some noise at the T20 World Cup. “What amazes me is the way the boys look so fit. They have trained hard for this and that should keep them in good stead.
“They play the qualifiers and I’m sure they have the team to beat and put in their best efforts to qualify for the second round,” he added.
On the personal front, Raju said he was immensely satisfied with the way things have unfolded in the past one year. “I’m delighted with UAE’s progress. They qualified for three World Cups which is in itself a big achievement.
“It’s evident that cricket is growing here. They have the infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities and that itself is a big boost. Other smaller cricket playing nations don’t have this advantage,”
Raju added that he would be happy to see the UAE boys get a full-time contract. “That has been part of the discussion every time I have met the officials in the UAE. It would be great if that happens.”
Team: Khurram Khan (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Amjad Javed, Shadeep Silva, Amjad Ali, Swapnil Patil, Shaiman Anwar, Vikrant Shetty, Manjula Guruge, Kamran Shahzad, Asadullah Shareef, Faizan Asif, Rohit Singh and Moaaz Ayub Qazi. Head Coach: Aaqib Javed; Assistant Coach: Mohammad Hyder Kazmi; Physio: C Sudhaker
