UAE vs Nepal 1st T20 Prediction

UAE Team News

Tahir Mughal is the only player missing from the ODI squad for the UAE. They remain without three of their most experienced players, however – captain Rohan Mustafa, alongside Ahmed Raza and Rameez Shahzad have all been suspended after comments made on social media during the Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

UAE Key Players

While Rohan Mustafa will be missed, the UAE still have Shaiman Anwar to call upon for runs. He scored a century in the series against Papua New Guinea and averages 31.52 in T20 internationals, having scored 788 runs.

Captain Mohammad Naveed provides plenty of experience, meanwhile. He was the leading wicket taker in the Everest Premier League in Nepal shortly before Christmas, taking 12 wickets in six matches. He also claimed five scalps in the ODI series and has 29 wickets in his T20i career.

Veteran Amir Hayat impressed with the ball in the ODI series, meanwhile. He claimed three wickets in each of the first two matches, having also taken 2-26 in the UAE’s T20 international against Australia in October.

UAE Team Form

The UAE’s last two T20 matches were against Australia and new Zealand in October, as both teams toured the country to face Pakistan. The Australia game was granted full international status – making it the UAE’s first official match against a full-member team. The UAE posted 117/6 from their 20 overs, losing by seven wickets with 3.5 overs remaining. In the unofficial match against New Zealand, they scored 124/8 in reply to the tourists’ 161/4.

Prior to that, they qualified as group winners in the western sub region of the ICC World Twenty20 Asian Qualifier. Played in Kuwait, they won all five matches, and then beat Qatar by nine wickets in the final too – Zahoor Lhan took 3-16 as Qatar were restricted to 115 all out, and Ghulam Shabber scored an unbeaten 63 from 46 balls to lead the UAE to a nine-wicket win.

Their most recent bilateral T20 international series was against Papua New Guinea in April 2017. The UAE won all three matches of that series, with Shaiman Anwar leading the way with the bat – scoring their first ever T20i century.