UAE captain Khurram Khan believes the back-to-back victories in the warm-up games has put his team in a buoyant mood ahead of their ICC World Cup Qualifier against Nepal at Rangiora Oval, Christchurch, South Island on Monday.
UAE trounced Uganda by 73 runs in the first warm-up match on Friday and followed it up with another impressive six-wicket victory over fancied Netherlands on Saturday.
Salman Faris (47 and 34), Amjad Ali (3 and 70), Khurram (56), Shaiman Anwar (59), Rohan Mustafa (48 and 18 n.o.), Swapnil Patil (23 and 26 n.o.) shared the batting honours while medium-pacer Amjad Javed (1-17 and 3-23) and left-arm spinner Ahmed Raza (0-10 and 2-22) fared well in the bowling department.
“The victories in the warm-up games have been a big morale booster,” Khurram told Sport360°.
“It was not just one or two batsmen who performed, everybody got starts and did well. The fast bowlers are also in good rhythm."
The team think-tank shuffled the batting and bowling around to ensure everybody in the 15-member squad got adequate match practice.
UAE, the top seeds, are among the 10 teams who will battle out in New Zealand over 20 days for two spots in the 2015 World Cup.
Khurram & Co are placed in Group A alongside Canada, Hong Kong and Nepal. Group B comprises Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.
The top three sides from each group will progress to the Super Six stage and the top two from this phase will progress to the final to be played at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln on February 1.
UAE will be up against a feisty opponent in Nepal, who have taken rapid strides in the last two years. They qualified for the 2014 World Twenty20 and are determined to replicate it in the 50-over version having landed in New Zealand two weeks ahead of the qualifiers to get acclimatised to the conditions.
However, things have not according to plan as they lost both their warm-up games narrowly – by four runs against Namibia and by one wicket against Kenya.
While admitting Nepal are a “good team”, Khurram believes UAE have settled in nicely since they landed in New Zealand four days ago.
“We are confident of our abilities and are taking one match at a time to achieve our target of qualifying (for the 2015 World Cup).
“Climate-wise it is quite similar to that what we experience in the UAE during these months which makes it a bit easy to settle down,” he added.
The two victories in the warm-up games meant that UAE have hit the ground running. Amjad Ali stole the show on Saturday with a superb 70 off 86 balls as UAE recording a convincing victory over the second-seeded Netherlands.
Fast bowlers Amjad Javed (3-23) and Manjula Guruge (2-38) and leftarm spinner Raza (2-22) had set the tone by dismissing Netherlands for 189 in 47.2 overs.
Amjad Ali added 88 runs with Salman Faris (34) for the second wicket and Swapnil Patil (26 not out), helping the side reach its target with nine overs to spare.