The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) announced the 13 UAE national players who have been awarded new two-year central contracts.

Skipper Rohan Mustafa is among the cricketers to have been handed a deal while Ashfaq Ahmed and Amir Hayat, who made their debuts in December have also been rewarded for their consistent performances.

It is the second time that the ECB announced their roster. In July 2016, the ECB named their first-ever central contracted players, marking the beginning of a new chapter in cricket in the country becoming professional.

With the players now training daily five days a week, the UAE have had success on the field. They retained their ODI status until 2022 while also beating a Test nation for the first time when they defeated Zimbabwe in the World Cup Qualifier.

Waleed Bukhatir, ECB member and chief selector, said it is a “very exciting and crucial time for Emirates Cricket.”

“We are extremely pleased to deliver on our goal, and promise, to extend more players contracts, to make these contracts more lucrative (to the player), and to bring in to the team a group of players that now have the opportunity to embed themselves into the game,” he said. “This will assist in our mandate to build, and strengthen UAE cricket, not only for the next four-year ODI cycle, but for many years to follow.”

The governing body confirmed that any contract renewals will be based on performance.

Bukhatir added: “It is imperative we continue to assess each player’s performance and their continued role in the team. Therefore, we have implemented clear and concise programmes that will monitor and manage performance as well as pay due attention to how our players are incentivised; financial reward, performance recognition, (and) personal and professional development.”

Contracted players: Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Muhammad Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Muhammad Naveed and Imran Haider