UAE’s Mohammad Naveed was pleased with his batting performance despite Toronto Nationals eight-wicket defeat to Edmonton Royals at the Global T20 Canada.

The all-rounder struck an unbeaten 26 after only facing 13 deliveries in an innings which includes three sixes and a four. That helped the Darren Sammy’s led-side register a total of 169 in their 20 overs on Saturday night.

But Royals, captained by former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi, chased down that total with five overs to spare after big scores from Andre Fletcher (68no), Luke Ronchi (47) and Agha Salman (38).

Naveed went wicketless in the game after figures of 0-21 but the 31-year-old was happy to have shown his new team-mates that he’s capable of batting too even though the effort came in a losing cause.

“The loss is hard to take but I was quite happy with my batting,” he said. “I am always expected to do well in bowling but when there are world-class players featuring it can be hard. But I will try and continue to do as much as I can every day.”

Naveed was the only UAE international to feature in the game. His Nationals’ team-mate Rohan Mustafa and Royals’ Ahmed Raza and Shaiman Anwar are yet to play in the competition.

Raza and Anwar will be hoping to make the team for the team’s next game on Monday night when Nationals take on Winnipeg Hawks on Tuesday.