Muhammad Waseem has been reinstated as captain of the UAE T20I team for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh in Sharjah, set to begin later this week. Waseem had previously stepped down from the role in October last year after leading the side in 26 matches between 2023 and 2024, citing a desire to focus on his ODI batting. The two-match series scheduled on May 17 and 19 will be UAE’s first T20I appearance since December, when they won the Gulf T20 Championship by defeating Kuwait in the final. The level of competition will rise significantly with Bangladesh as their opponent, compared to the earlier tournament that featured Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar.
Following Waseem’s resignation, wicketkeeper-batter Rahul Chopra had taken over the captaincy. Notably, Waseem remains the UAE’s most prolific T20I batter and has scored more T20I runs than any other player globally since his debut in 2021. However, his recent form has dipped – he failed to register a half-century in the ILT20 and his last fifty came in December against Qatar. In ODIs, he has managed just one half-century over the last two years.
UAE enter the Bangladesh series on the back of a difficult run in the Cricket World Cup League 2 in the Netherlands, where they suffered two losses each to the Netherlands and Scotland. Their only win came against Scotland, highlighted by a century from Chopra and a four-wicket haul by left-arm spinner Simranjeet Singh.
UAE squad for T20I series against Bangladesh: Muhammad Waseem (capt), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma, Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D’ Souza, Haider Ali, Matiullah Khan, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Muhammad Zuhaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Saghir Khan, Sanchit Sharma, Simranjeet Singh.
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