2022 Asian Cup – UAE

Rizwan’s first assignment will be the Asian Cup qualifiers, which will take place in Al Amerat from August 20th to 24th. The UAE is one of four teams participating in the qualifying round, with the winners joining the full members of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka for the main competition which begins on 27 August in the UAE.

The UAE revealed the decision to split the captains in a media release announcing the Asian Cup qualifier lineup. The press release states that the selection committee has reviewed the team’s recent ODI performance and has decided to appoint captains who are “focused on a single format” to develop a “robust leadership succession plan.”

Rizwan, who took over from Raza, had just seven T20Is in which he scored 100 runs with a 16.66 average and a 101.01 strike rate. He has not been part of the UAE XI team in the last 10 T20I matches, the last time he played in this form was in October 2021.

“The UAE’s T20 game is reputable and has extraordinary depth,” the release said. “This strategy is at the right time to assess what is best for this format to enter the (ICC T20) World Cup and beyond. The UAE’s high performance department believes this provides a solid opportunity to consider and open up all options – player composition and captaincy – Push the game forward.

“As such, Ahmed Raza will continue as the UAE’s ODI (Over 50 format) captain and it is expected that under his guidance and experience, the UAE’s ODI performance will benefit from his knowledge to create a winning culture, while CP Rizwan has been appointed as the T20 captain for the upcoming Asian Cup event.”

Asian Cup qualifying UAE team: CP Rizwan (capt), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, Vriitya Aravind, Ahmed Raza, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Zawar Farid, Alishan Sharafu, Sabir Ali, Aryan Lakra, Sultan Ahmad, Junaid Siddiq, Fahd Nawaz.