UAE captain Rohit Singh feels his team must score at least 240 against New Zealand today but knows it won’t be easy if they want to advance to the Plate Championship final at the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

The two sides have already met in their Group D encounter with Robert O’Donnell hitting an unbeaten century to guide New Zealand to a 112-run win in Sharjah after the hosts could only score 169.

“I think anything between 240 and 250 is good enough,” said Singh, who has scored 60 runs so far in the tournament. “If we keep wickets in hand and score around 240 and 250 runs we can make it a good match out of it.

“We played them in Sharjah and the conditions will be a little bit different (than in Abu Dhabi). If we stick to our basics and work a little more harder then we can hopefully put on a better show than last time,” said Singh, who has been included in the senior squad for the upcoming World Twenty20 next month.

UAE were impressive in their seven- wicket win over Scotland in the quarter-final on Sunday – the first in the tournament, but Singh knows it will be a much harder task against the 1998 runners-up.

“We bowled the right length and they made quite a lot of mistakes. But I don’t think New Zealand will make the same mistakes as much as Scotland did,” said Singh.

Only Chirag Suri and Shorye Chopra have registered half-centuries so far in the tournament, and Singh is wary of their opponent’s bowling attack.

“They (New Zealand) are very good in the fast-bowling department. On an Abu Dhabi pitch where there is a little bit of grass on it, they can do the damage.”

Asked whether playing his team holds the advantage having played at Zayed Cricket Stadium twice in this tournament, Singh replied: “Yes it will be an advantage but the pitch is not the same.”

Coach Aaqib Javed insists his players can put New Zealand under “a lot of pressure” if they play in the same way as they did against Scotland.