Cricket: UAE ready for PNG encounter: Mustafa

UAE captain Rohan Mustafa

UAE captain Rohan Mustafa is upbeat about the team's chances ahead of the ICC World Cricket League Championship match against Papua New Guinea at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday.
There are two 50-over matches with the second encounter to be played at the same venue on Sunday.
The UAE languish at the bottom of the WCL Championship table with seven losses from eight played so far in the 2015-17 edition. Their opponents from PNG, though, are second with 12 points from eight matches but behind the Netherlands, which have played 10 matches to earn 16 points.
Even as the task in front of him seems uphill, Mustafa is confident his boys can pull it off.
"We have prepared very well. We played matches against county teams and it was all-round performance with batsman scoring centuries and bowlers being among the wickets," he said.
The skipper, himself, is in good nick and said Shaiman Anwar and Rameez Shahzad too have been consistent with the willow in the past few matches.
"Zahoor Khan took six wickets, including a hat-trick. The team is in good shape," he said minutes after a team meeting in Abu Dhabi.
Though the UAE missed out on a practice match and didn't have a field test of the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, the skipper is cool about it.
"We have played so many times on the Abu Dhabi pitch. All of us have played Division-A matches at the stadium so lack of field time is not a worrying thing," the 28-year-old added.
Mustafa recently took over the reins as captain from Amjad Javed and the next few days will be a test of character for him and his mates.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com