UAE’s Rohan Mustafa ruled out of ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 Series in USA
Veteran left-hander suffers shoulder injury while fielding as team take on Scotland today
Dubai: The UAE’s push towards the 50-over World Cup suffered a big blow after veteran batter Rohan Mustafa has been ruled for the reminder of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 series with a shoulder injury.
“My time with UAE Team has been cut short in Houston. I’m devastated that I will miss out all three matches after first match. I will be cheering for the boys and hope to see you back on the field soon. Injured my left shoulder while fielding,” the former UAE skipper posted on his Twitter account.
The left-hander has been one of the mainstay in the middle order and has been in good touch during the UAE leg of the series.
“Stay strong. Heal well,” Emirates Cricket Board posted on their official twitter handle.
UAE team have not had the best start after resumption, losing both the matches held in Texas, US. Veteran Kyle Koetzer scored an unbeaten 108 to guide Scotland to a four-wicket win with 12 balls to spare in the opener, while the UAE lost by the same margin against hosts USA.
CP Rizwan has been in good form, scoring two half centuries (55 and 67), and should be compensating for Mustafa’s absence in the middle order. While Chirag Suri, young Vriitya Aravind and Alishan Sharufu has been getting starts, they have not able to convert those into big scores.
Cause for worry
It is important for the third-placed UAE, who will be playing Scotland later today, to get back to the winning ways, especially against Scotland and USA as they occupy the second and fourth positions respectively.
Batting has been a cause for worry for the UAE in the past few games and even against Scotland and USA, the team managed to score only 215 and 203 respectively. “Overall it was a good performance. Our batting let us down a bit. The bowlers did a fantastic job throughout the tournament. We batted well in patches,” Robin Singh, Director of UAE Cricket, had told at the end of the UAE leg of the series.
The UAE batting has a right mixture of youth and experience, and some of the young turks like Aravind and Sharufu have been showing their capabilities, but they need to do that on a consistent basis to strengthen their position in the team.