Sharjah Tri-Series: UAE's Chance To Prove Their Talent Against Pakistan And Afghanistan Khaleej Times

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

Less than two weeks before the start of the Asia Cup (September 9-28) in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UAE will compete in the Inverex Solar Energy presents Bank Alfalah T20I Tri-Series, which starts on Friday at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

The top two teams will compete in the final following a round-robin format.

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The tri-series offers the three teams a wonderful opportunity to test their level ahead of the eight-team Asia Cup tournament which will be played in the T20 format this year.

The Salman Ali Agha-led Pakistan team will take on Rashid Khan's Afghanistan in the opening match on Friday.

Hosts UAE, led by experienced opening batter Muhammad Waseem, will start their campaign against Pakistan on Saturday.

While Pakistan and Afghanistan are the favourites to reach the final, none of them can take the UAE lightly.

It was only three months ago on the same ground that the UAE recorded a historic T20I series win over Bangladesh, a Test-playing team.

Now Waseem's team, a nice blend of youth and experience, will be eager once again to prove themselves against Pakistan and Afghanistan ahead of their Asia Cup appearance on home soil.

UAE squad: Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D' Souza, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wicketkeeper), Rohid Khan and Saghir Khan.

Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufyan Moqim.

Afghanistan squad: Rashid Khan (capt), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad, Abdollah Ahmadzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Tournament schedule:

Friday, August 29: Afghanistan vs Pakistan – 7:00pm

Saturday, August 30: UAE vs Pakistan – 7:00pm

Monday, September 1: Afghanistan vs UAE – 7:00pm

Tuesday, September 2: Afghanistan vs Pakistan – 7:00pm

Thursday, September 4: Pakistan vs UAE – 7:00pm

Friday, September 5: Afghanistan vs UAE – 7:00pm

Sunday, September 7: Final – 7:00pm

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