Ahead of their first Super Six stage match against Papua New Guinea tomorrow, UAE captain Khurram Khan says the team cannot afford any more slip-ups if they want to progress to next year’s World Cup.

On Thursday, UAE beat in-form Hong Kong by 22 runs to book their place in the Super Six stage, and will begin the round with a two-point tally as a result.

“The matches are very important. We have to win the matches to go further in the competition and hopefully to the finals if we can.

“Every match from now on is going to be very important. It’s important to pick up maximum points from our first game in the first round, and if we win that match we will have four points,” said Khan, who top-scored with 78 runs against Hong Kong.

Papua New Guinea, the surprise leaders in Group B, will carry four points to the Super Six stage after victories over Namibia and Kenya, and Khan insists it will be a tough match against the seventh seeds.

“They’ve (Papua New Guinea) done well and improved and did well in the T20 qualifiers in Dubai. Now in this tournament they’ve done very well and won their three matches. So we have been studying their videos and hopefully we can do well again,” said Khan.

Khan has led from the front and has accumulated 275 runs in the four matches, but says every team member has done well and is hoping the runs continue to flow.

He said: “I’ve been doing well, been pretty well and when you are captain you have a lot of responsibilities. Some other players have been scoring the runs especially Shaiman Ali’s 109 (against Nepal). Not just one person has been scoring well, everyone is and I think it’s going to help us in this round.”

UAE will then face Kenya (0 points) on January 28 before facing Namibia (2 points) two days later.