The Emirates Cricket Board on Wednesday announced a 14-man squad for their upcoming ICC Intercontinental Cup (I-Cup) and ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) campaigns, with two notable absentees.
Emirati spinner Mohammad Tauqir, who returned to the team to captain the UAE at the World Cup has been replaced as skipper by Ahmed Raza while left-arm spinner Manjula Guruge also misses out.
Tauqir, 43, led the UAE in their innings defeat to Ireland in the I-Cup opener earlier in the year and was also at the helm for their woeful World T20 campaign that followed.
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While Tauqir’s absence is fairly unexpected – despite not giving any sign that he would be unavailable – it is a different case for Guruge has become a pivotal member of the UAE’s bowling attack in recent years.
Coach Aaqib Javed has delivered on his promise that young players would be given a chance in the coming months, meaning Tauqir was always a likely target to be dropped.
As expected, 2015 ACC U19 Premier League leading wicket-taker Yodhin Punja has been called up to the senior side for the first time aged just 16.
A total of eight changes have been made to the squad that played Ireland, while an additional four new faces wait in reserve.
It leaves a squad more reflective of the UAE’s World T20 qualifying selection with eight players from that 18 recalled this time around.
Rohan Mustafa, who played in the qualifier, is one of the four reserves.
The UAE play Hong Kong in both fixtures, their I-Cup game starting on Wednesday November 11th and WCLC matches being played Monday November 16th and Wednesday November 18th.
All will be played at the ICC Academy ground, Dubai Sports City.
UAE squad in full:
Ahmed Raza (c), Qais Farooq, Shaiman Anwar, Swapnil Patil, Amjad Ali, Mohammad Naveed, Nasir Aziz, Asif Iqbal, Usman Musthaq, Abdul Shakoor Bangash, Umair Ali, Yodhin Punja, Raja Adeel Iqbal, Laxman Sreekumar
Reserves: Rohan Mustafa, Rohit Singh, Zaheer Maqsood, Qadeer Ahmed