Abu Dhabi: Taking UAE lightly will be the biggest mistake that any opposition would be making, warned skipper Mohammad Tauqir before leaving for New Zealand ahead of the World Cup starting February 15.

“Well prepared and excited and raring to go,” said Tauqir, who rated the team as a good bunch of experienced players with the ability to stun any top team on their day.

“It is a very matured side and it is ready for the challenge. We are not in any sort of pressure and everyone in the team wants to do well. We will definitely be going into every match with a positive frame of mind and I’m sure we can surprise some of the big teams in our group,” added Tauqir, whose team will be spending the first week in Napier and will play a few practice games before heading to Melbourne on 8th of February. The team, then, heads back to New Zealand on the 15th before their first game against Zimbabwe on 19th.

“We will try to get acclimatised to the conditions in New Zealand and Australia as soon as possible. We know we can put up solid performance even against Test playing nations like India, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies. However, Ireland and Zimbabwe at the matches which I feel we cannot afford to fair badly,” said Tauqir, who rated his team as a balanced side.

“I will give our bowling a slightly more edge than our batting. There are a lot of senior cricketers who have been playing together. They know how to handle the pressure situations and are mentally very tough,” said Tauqir, adding that, he has less pressure on his shoulders as a captain with so many senior players around.

“Players like Khurram (Khan), Shaimon (Anwar), Amjad Ali, Amjad Javed have played together for 8 to 10 years and it definitely makes my job easier and I would say I’m blessed to have a deputy of Khurram’s calibre.”

Coach Aaqib Javed felt that UAE had waited enough for their second opportunity and all that his boys need now is to go out there and express themselves. “They have waited for 19 years and have really worked hard to reach here. I think the biggest plus we have is nobody knows our strengths and weaknesses. We have been watching other teams regularly so we know how they play. The gap between them and us is huge but in cricket, anything can happen if you play hard cricket,” said the former Pakistan bowling spearhead.