Muhammad Waseem to lead UAE at 2026 T20 World Cup

Muhammad Waseem has been named captain of the UAE’s 15-member squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, which begins on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka.

Waseem, who has led the team for the past three years, has captained the UAE in 66 of his 92 international matches.

It will be the UAE’s third appearance at the T20 World Cup, following earlier outings in 2014 and 2022, where they exited at the group stage.

As part of their build-up, the UAE are playing a two-match T20 international series against Ireland. They will then take on Nepal and Italy in warm-up matches on February 3 and 6 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The UAE begin their Group D campaign against New Zealand on February 10. They will then face Canada on February 13, Afghanistan on February 16 and South Africa on February 18. All group matches will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

The coaching staff is led by head coach Lalchand Rajput. Former Pakistan fast bowler Yasir Arafat has joined as bowling coach, while Zimbabwe’s Stanley Chioza will oversee fielding duties.

Squad: Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Dhruv Parashar, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Mayank Kumar, Muhammad Arfan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rohid Khan, Sohaib Khan and Simranjeet Singh.