UAE square off with Bhutan in opener

Sharjah: The UAE will take on Bhutan Thursday in their first match of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Elite Trophy in Kuwait.

The UAE is in Group B along with Afghanistan, which recently caught the world's attention after qualifying for the World Twenty20 tournament to be held in the West Indies.

Afghanistan had knocked the UAE out of the World Twenty20 qualifiers in Dubai last month when they beat them in a tense, low-scoring semifinal match with just three balls to spare. The UAE will again meet Afghanistan Friday in their group match.

Learning curve

"Playing in the ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers was a great learning curve and the experience gained there will hold us in good stead even though the format of this tournament is of 50 overs a side," said Khurram Khan, captain of the UAE team,

Though the UAE is expecting to reach the final, Khan is not taking any of his opponents easily. "We have great respect for all teams competing in the tournament and we will have to be on our top of game if we aim to finish on a high note."

Only the top two teams from each group will reach the semifinal.

In Group B are the UAE, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bahrain and Bhutan while Group A is made up of Hong Kong, Nepal, Singapore, Kuwait and Oman

"If we play up to our potential, we can produce a good result against any team," said Khan, who added: "Everyone knows anything can happen in cricket. We have to remain focused and concentrate on one match at a time."

After Bhutan and Afghanistan, the UAE will meet Bahrain on April 4 and Malaysia on April 6. The semifinal is scheduled for April 7 and final will be on April 9. The 14-member UAE squad to Kuwait is accompanied by Mansour Pasha, manager; Colin Mark Wells, coach and C. Sudhakar, physiotherapist. UAE squad: Khurram Khan, captain; Naeemuddin Aslam, vice-captain; Arshad Ali; Saqib Ali; Abdul Rehman; Shadeep Silva; Amjad Ali; Salman Farooq; Ahmad Raza; Qasim Zubair; Shoaib Sarwar; Fayyaz Ahmad; Qadar Nawaz and Indika Sampath.