Mustafa confident of T20 clean sweep

Haider to make way for Shabbir, who has recovered from finger injury in three-match series

Having won the ODI series and followed it up with a clinical performance in the four-day match, UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa is eyeing a clean sweep against Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the three-match T20 series starting today at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium.

Mustafa has clearly marshaled his team well so far and even led from the front with the bat and ball. Slam bang cricket has been the UAE’s forte and having sailed through smoothly in the other two formats, one can expect the team to carry on in the same rhythm.

However, the only glitch here is the scheduling of the series. It seems strange to have both the second and third T20 matches on the same day.

“Of course, we will be favourites in this series as our bowling and batting lineup is strong. The confidence among the players are high. PNG are disciplined and will give us a tough time. We will have a few batsmen who can change the game very easily. Hopefully, the matches will go in our favour,” said Mustafa, adding that it is very easy to move from four-day cricket to T20 rather than vice versa.

No issues

Mustafa was not too perturbed with the schedule of the series and felt that two back-to-back matches in a day is very much manageable for his side.

“In my opinion, if you play a four-day match, you play 90 overs in a day and in the last two 20 overs matches we will have a gap of 2.5 hours and at the most it comes to 80 overs so I don’t think we should have any difficulty as even Afghanistan play two matches in a day,” said Mustafa, who also revealed that centurion Saqlain Haider from the four-day match will make way for Ghulam Shabbir, who is back after recovering from a finger injury.

“I think Shabbir is back now. He was out only because of his finger injury and Saqlain was in and he scored a hundred. I think four-day match suits Saqlain more. New guy Sultan Ahmed is a left-arm spinner and he will be in place of Qadir Ahmed, who is ruled out with a thumb fracture,” revealed Mustafa.

UAE coach Dougie Brown hailed the showing of his boys so far and wants them to keep the plan of action for the shortest version of the game as well.

“What we have been trying to do is play the game in a slightly different tempo and I want them to maintain that. Twenty20 cricket is a format they all play in the local competitions and they have the mindset for that format. In my opinion, there is still a formula in trying to hit the ball for a six and a four. There’s still a formula attached to T20 and we have to understand it pretty quickly,” said Brown, adding that his side have been absolutely outstanding and he cannot credit them enough for the work they have done.

“Playing red-ball cricket is not something they know about but to be honest they’ve stepped up and dominated every session and this is a testament to the work they’ve each put in. There are many positives to take from those games.”