UAE eye T20 World Cup spot at qualifying tournament in Oman

Dubai: The UAE will kick off their campaign against Qatar in the opening match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia and East Asia Pacific Qualifier today, as they aim to secure a spot in next year’s tournament, which will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

A total of nine teams will be competing in the qualifiers, split into three groups. The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super Six stage — a round-robin league featuring the six best teams. The top three sides from that phase will earn qualification to the T20 World Cup, joining pre-qualified teams: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The global event is scheduled for February and March 2026.

Group A consists of the UAE, Malaysia and Qatar while Group B includes Japan, Kuwait and Nepal. Group C has Oman, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.

All matches are being held at the Oman Cricket Academy in Al Amerat, just outside Muscat. Unlike previous editions, this year’s Qualifier features teams from both Asia and the East Asia Pacific region, presenting a more diverse challenge for the UAE, who traditionally had to contend only with Asian sides.

"It's a process that we always carry forward. And we were really looking forward to the Asia Cup because we qualified after a long time," Rajput had said after their Asia Cup campaign. "And then we beat Bangladesh, that was a very good series for us. Then we went to Uganda. It was a series where we tried some more players. We beat other teams, but lost to Uganda.

"The important thing for us is the T20 World Cup qualifier. We don't have any much time in between. So Uganda was a series where we could try. And then the tri-series, we should have won a couple of games.

"But again, crossing the line, something the better teams always do, we came close but could not. But definitely the players have started believing in themselves. But still I feel that we are a much better team and you will see in the coming matches as well. I'm sure we'll improve because from here we can't go low down. We are only going to upward," he added.

The UAE head into the qualifier as the highest-ranked team and one of the clear favourites to advance — but several strong contenders stand in their way. The top among them will be Nepal who arrive in red-hot form. They recently defeated the West Indies in a historic series win in Sharjah — their first against a Test-playing nation.

UAE squad: Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Jonathan Figy, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Mohammed Farooq, Mohammed Irfan, Rahul Chopra, Rohid Khan, Simranjeet Singh, Zahid Ali.