ICC T20 World Cup 2026: UAE announce 15-member squad, Muhammad Waseem to lead

DUBAI: Muhammad Waseem has been named as the captain of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) cricket team for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, which is beginning next month.

On Friday, the Emirates Cricket Board announced a 15-member squad for the 20-team tournament for which they qualified following a victory over Japan in the Super Six stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia & East Asia-Pacific (EAP) Qualifier held in Oman last year, according to ICC.

Lalchand Rajput, who helped India clinch the trophy in the first-ever T20 World Cup in 2007, will lead the side as head coach, supported by former Pakistan international Yasir Arafat as fast bowling coach and Zimbabwe's Stanley Chioza serving as fielding coach for the tournament.




The UAE have previously participated in the T20 World Cup twice, finishing at the group stage in both 2014 and 2022.

Ahead of their World Cup campaign, they will face Ireland in a two-match T20I series and will play warm-up matches against Nepal on February 3 and Italy on February 6.

The team is drawn in Group D alongside Canada, Afghanistan, former champions New Zealand, and last year's finalists South Africa, with their tournament opener against New Zealand scheduled for February 10 in Chennai.

The squad will then travel to Delhi to play their remaining three Group D matches.

The UAE will face Canada on February 13 and Afghanistan on February 16. Their final Group D match is against South Africa, scheduled for February 18.

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eights stage will commence on February 21.

The UAE squad includes three players from the team that competed in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 (Australia), the UAE's last T20 World Cup appearance. In addition to Waseem, Alishan Sharafu and Junaid Siddique travelled to Australia.

Waseem has remained the UAE's captain for the last three years. In his 92-match career, the right-hander has led the side in 66 matches. The UAE squad includes a mix of experienced and emerging talents.

UAE Squad: Muhammad Waseem (c), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma, Dhruv Parashar, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Mayank Kumar, Muhammad Arfan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rohid Khan, Sohaib Khan, and Simranjeet Singh.

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