UAE pacer Mohammad Naveed has set himself an ambitious target of being the top wicket-taker and taking the scalp of David Warner at the upcoming Global T20 Canada tournament.

Naveed, 31, will line up alongside West Indies’ World Twenty20-winning captain Darren Sammy and ex-Australia captain Steve Smith for Toronto Nationals in the inaugural competition, which begins on Thursday, after being one of four UAE players to be selected through the draft earlier this month.

He joins UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa at Toronto while Shaiman Anwar and Ahmed Raza are part of the Edmonton Royals’ squad.

The tournament has attracted some of the biggest names in cricket, including Chris Gayle, Smith and Warner, while the bowling talent is equally impressive with Tim Southee, Lasith Malinga, Sunil Narine and Sandeep Lamichhane all on the list.

But despite strong competition in the bowling department, Naveed, who has taken 36 wickets in 27 T20 matches, is dreaming of claiming the personal accolade.

“The target that I want to achieve is to win the best bowler award in the tournament,” said Naveed, who will depart for Canada on Monday. “Today that is what I want. Of course it will be very difficult but I have great confidence that I can do well in Canada over a series of matches.”

Naveed has established himself as one of the best bowlers in Associate cricket with Shahid Afridi and Gayle two of his highest-profile victims in the last six months.

With both playing in the same tournament, there’s every chance he could replicate that feat but the pacer wants to add Warner to his list.

“I have got the wicket of Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle before so my target now is to get David Warner,” he said. “He is a fantastic players and he is one of the best batsmen in the world. He’s a very aggressive player and those type of batsmen I enjoy taking wickets.”

It will be Warner’s first appearance since the ball-tampering scandal that rocked the sport during the third Test between South Africa and Australia in March. He was subsequently stripped of his vice-captaincy role and given a 12-month ban along with Smith in international and state cricket.

But despite the punishment, Naveed insists he will have no issue shaking the hand of Warner when the teams meet in Canada.

“For me, it’s no issue because he’s one of the best batsmen. He did a mistake and he’s accepted that. Now he is moving on from that chapter,” he said.

When Naveed does join his team-mates, he will be reunited with Sammy for the third time in two years. The two played at the Hong Kong T20 Blitz with Sammy praising the UAE star and they were later team-mates at the T10 League in December for Bengal Tigers.

Naveed says he can’t wait to link up with Sammy again this week. “I have been in regular contact with Darren Sammy since that tournament and we message all the time. He has always said that he will do his best to get me a deal with one of the teams and I’m very happy to be on the same team”