There might be more than two weeks to go until the World Cup Qualifier but Ahmed Raza is dreaming of taking the “prized wicket” of Chris Gayle when the UAE take on West Indies.
The UAE will pit themselves against the reigning World Twenty20 champions on March 6 in Harare, Zimbabwe, after being drawn alongside with Ireland, Netherlands and Papua New Guinea in Group A following their qualification.
Raza was among the squad members that booked their place in the competition after finishing in the top two in the triumphant World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia last week.
The 29-year-old spinner is already looking forward to the challenge, where the top two sides will qualify for the 2019 showpiece event, and while he insists he is not targeting any batsmen, it would be an honour if he dismissed Gayle.
“Yes definitely (it would be),” said Raza. “He will be the prized wicket because we all know how destructive he can be. It would be nice to get him out early because once he gets going, he will be hard to contain. He will be our prized wicket and he can really leave a big mark if we can’t get him out early.
“But to be honest, I’m not targeting anyone. I just have to go out there and do my job. If I do that well, I’m sure I’ll pick up wickets. If I contain from one end, I’m sure my bowling partner at the other end will pick up some wickets. I’ll do what I do best and that is to contain runs and take wickets.”
He can be encouraged by the fact he claimed three wickets when the two sides met in a T20 practice match in Dubai ahead of West Indies’ series against Pakistan in the UAE in 2016.
“If I can get another three wickets it would be great,” he added. “That was a really good day for me and if I can get anything close to that then it would be great. That means that I’ll also be picking up wickets in the middle order which if the team is building at that time, you can dent their chances of scoring. It would be nice if I get some wickets against them in Zimbabwe.”
This time last week, the UAE’s hopes of facing the likes of West Indies were very slim after successive losses to Nepal and Canada in WCL. But the team bounced back strongly with triumphs over Oman, Namibia and Nepal in the final and Raza said the turnaround was down to their test of character.
“It’s a test of character of how you come back from losses,” he said. “In a global event, you have to put the losses behind and look forward and try and win the next game and that’s what we did.”