Sharjah: UAE hope for a winning start as they take on Scotland in their first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup qualifier Super Sixes tournament at the Old Harrarians ground in Harare in Zimbabwe on Thursday.
Speaking to Gulf News from Harare, UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa said: “We will aim for a winning start in the Super Sixes. It will be a good match because they (Scotland) are a good side. Our plan is to try and come hard on them.”
UAE is buoyed by having retained their One Day International Status for the next four years until 2022. Their heavy defeat to Ireland in their last match on Monday has forced UAE to work hard for the super sixes.
“We have to make sure we don’t do the same mistake we did in the last match and hence have worked very hard for this match,” added Mustafa, who also had a close look at the playing wicket.
“It looks like a slow wicket and that could go in our favour. We have some quality spinners and we should be able to trouble the Scotland batsmen,” said Mustafa.
What would be his advice to his spinners? “We have decided to bowl stump to stump. We will do everything to get to a winning start,” he said.
UAE’s left-arm spinner Ahmad Raza, one of the senior members of the team, feels that the team has to win to realise the dream of playing in the World Cup. “It’s an opportunity to keep our dreams alive. Scotland are playing some good cricket in this tournament and so we have to be very smart with our cricket,” said Raza.
“We saw the wicket and looking at the low-scoring games we are assuming that spin will play a role and if we bowl to our strengths tomorrow we could be very dangerous,” added Raza.
However, Raza feels it is not an easy wicket for batsmen. “It is surely not an easy wicket for batters to come in and score easily on such wicket. So whoever gets set has to bat deep.”
