Asia Cup: Team UAE Eye Historic Super Four Berth Today Khaleej Times

Even as a cloud of uncertainty hangs over their final Group A Asia Cup game against Pakistan, the UAE head coach Lalchand Rajput hopes to help his team earn a historic Super Four berth.

Having beaten Oman in their second game, the UAE will qualify for the Super Four if they cause an upset against Pakistan in Dubai on Wednesday.

Pakistan, meanwhile, reportedly threatened to boycott the match if match referee Andy Pycroft, who officiated Pakistan's match against India on Sunday, is not removed from the tournament following the handshake controversy.

Indian players refused to shake hands with the Pakistan team following their seven-wicket win on Sunday in what was the first match between the two sides just four months after the two South Asian countries came to the brink of an all-out war.

But UAE coach Rajput is only focused on the job ahead.

“The good thing is that we have played Pakistan in the tri-series (recently in Sharjah), so we know where we stand. If we can put up a good performance on the day, definitely our team can make it to the Super Four,” he said.

The UAE kept their hopes alive after a comprehensive win over Oman in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

“We played very good cricket against Oman, and we will try to play our very best cricket tomorrow (Wednesday)," Rajput said.

"It would be a huge thing for us to qualify for the last four.”

Teams:

UAE (possible): 1 Alishan Sharafu, 2 Muhammad Waseem (capt), 3 Muhammad Zohaib, 4 Asif Khan, 5 Harshit Kaushik, 6 Rahul Chopra (wk), 7 Dhruv Parashar, 8 Haider Ali, 9 Muhammad Rohid Khan, 10 Muhammad Jawadullah, 11 Junaid Siddique

Pakistan (possible): 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Saim Ayub 3 Fakhar Zaman 4 Salman Ali Agha (capt) 5 Hasan Nawaz 6 Mohammad Haris (wk) 7 Mohammad Nawaz 8 Faheem Ashraf 9 Shaheen Afridi 10 Sufiyan Muqeem 11 Abrar Ahmed.

Match starts at 6:30 pm at Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday.

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