David Warner, Steve Smith and Chris Gayle may well be the high-profile players competing at the Global T20 Canada tournament which begins on Thursday evening (midnight start).
But the inaugural event will also feature four UAE internationals – the most that the country have had in an overseas T20 competition. After their visas were finally processed, Ahmed Raza, Rohan Mustafa and Mohammad Naveed all departed for Canada on Wednesday with Shaiman Anwar set to travel on Thursday.
Here, we look at each of the four players ahead of the competition.
ROHAN MUSTAFA, TORONTO NATIONALS
The 29-year-old will be playing in his second T20 tournament outside the UAE this year with his first coming in Nepal back in April. In the low-profile tournament, he was crowned man of the series and considering the big impact he has had with the bat and ball in the last 18 months, his presence will certainly give Nationals’ coach Simmons a selection headache.
In more than 60 T20 games, he has scored over 600 runs with his highest score of 77. With the ball, he’s been equally impressive with 32 wickets in 40 matches.
MOHAMMAD NAVEED, TORONTO NATIONALS
The 31-year-old isn’t short of T20 experience. In his 22 internationals in the shortest format, the pacer was once ranked as the 10th best bowler in the world just less than a year ago. A bowler who delivers consistently, his record stands at 29 wickets and can also be useful down the batting order thanks to his aggressive approach.
So highly-rated that even World Twenty20-winning captain Darren Sammy posted an instagram post praising the UAE star after being impressed with his abilities during the Hong Kong T20 Blitz. The two have since been part of the Bengal Tigers at the T10 League and will be reunited again in Canada at Toronto Nationals.
Mohammad Naveed is highly rated.
AHMED RAZA, EDMONTON ROYALS
Having made his debut way back in 2006, Ahmed Raza has gone from strength to strength and has become one of the key players in the UAE national team. Amazingly, he is only 29 with plenty of years still ahead of him. He was overlooked for the T10 League where many UAE internationals featured but Raza has been consistent in the T20 domestic circuit while his international figures of 12 wickets in 21 T20Is is certainly impressive.
Raring to go: Rohan Mustafa
SHAIMAN ANWAR, EDMONTON ROYALS
Aged 39, even Shaiman Anwar thought his days of playing in a T20 league was over before the Global T20 Canada was launched. A veteran of the UAE team for more than a decade, Anwar certainly has a lot of pedigree in T20 cricket. Just last year, he stole the show by becoming the UAE’s first T20I centurion when he smashed 117 against Papua New Guinea while he has four half-centuries to his name. In 26 T20I, he has amassed 747 runs with an average of 31.12.
UAE centurion: Shaiman Anwar.