Asia Cup: UAE's Cricket Team Proves How Indians And Pakistanis Can Unite For A Cause

Away from the simmering tensions between the Indian and Pakistani camps at the Asia Cup following the controversial no-handshake policy from Suryakumar Yadav's team, Indian-origin and Pakistan-origin players represented the UAE at the high-profile event, showing their impressive cricket skills and even more impressive camaraderie.

Historically, the UAE has banked on expat communities from South Asia for its national cricket team.

A few Emiratis have gone on to play international cricket over the years, but it's the Indian and Pakistani expat communities that have always provided the bulk of the players.

The current team, which gave Pakistan a run for their money in their final Asia Cup Group A game on Wednesday, is led by Muhammad Waseem, who hails from Mian Channu, the same town in Pakistan's Punjab province where the country's Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem was born.

Waseem, whose CV included only a few club-level matches in Pakistan, arrived in Dubai nine years ago to work as a sales executive. But it was an Indian expat, Mudassir Ali, who saw the cricket potential in him during a local match in Ajman.

Now the right-handed opening batsman is the fourth fastest player - after Mohammad Rizwan, Virat Kohli and Babar Azam - to complete 3,000 runs in T20 Internationals.

Junaid Siddique, the UAE's pace spearhead who delivered an outstanding spell against Pakistan (4-0-18-4), was born in Multan, one of the major cities in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Simranjeet Singh, the left-arm spinner who rocked the Pakistan batting unit with three wickets, was born in India's Punjab state where he had often bowled to Shubman Gill in the nets when the Indian star was still a teen sensation.

Pune-born all-rounder Dhruv Parashar scored a fighting 20 and kept the UAE hopes alive with a 48-run fourth-wicket partnership with Rahul Chopra (35), who was born in New Delhi, before the Pakistan team, who had made 146 for nine, fought back to bowl the home team out for 105.

As players representing an associate team in a major international event, it would be foolish to expect them to churn out victories against the cricketing elites.

But what these players have shown is that when you play sport, you forget everything else and concentrate on the game.

Like the way they remained focused on their job on Wednesday, even as the Pakistan team failed to turn up at the scheduled time for their match in Dubai amid a raging row over a match official.

“We were just focused on our preparation, the coach (Lalchand Rajput, former India player) told us to be mentally ready and be switched on. So it didn't really affect us,” Dhruv Parashar told Khaleej Times when asked if the agonising wait for the Pakistan team in their delayed game affected their preparations.

We are a family

After the end of the match on Wednesday night, skipper Mohammad Waseem was asked if the India-Pakistan tensions in the ongoing Asia Cup have ever featured in conversations among the players in the UAE team.

"No, we are not talking about that (Indo-Pak tensions) as we play a lot of cricket together. We are like a family here,” he said.

“There is no Indian and no Pakistani. We play for the UAE team. We play as a family and live as a family.”

The 20-year-old Parashar echoed his captain's sentiments, while revealing that he could open up about anything in life around Waseem and Junaid.

“We have a mix of Indians and Pakistanis in our team. The camaraderie within the team is very good, and not for one second do we think we are different,” said Parashar, who also used the Asia Cup opportunity to get some bowling and batting tips from India's Varun Chakravarty and Pakistan's Saim Ayub, Abrar Ahmed and Fakhar Zaman.

“In the UAE team, it's lovely to have Waseem bhai Junaid bhai, they are so experienced, they played over 100 games, they always support you and back you, and you can always go to them to ask anything, it could be about life, it could be about cricket.

“The bond that we share is very good, even the coach and all the players, we just play for the badge, for the country that has given us so much opportunity. We have a lot of people to make proud.”

Proud of Junaid

Parashar is also proud of Junaid's bowling heroics, his stunning back-to-back four-wicket hauls against Oman and Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

“Junaid is a very close friend, even though he is a senior. I am very happy for him. He works very hard on his fitness and game. To see him get four wickets against Pakistan after getting four wickets against Oman in the previous game was terrific,” said Parashar

“The way he bowled in the last two games shows he is in great rhythm. He always gives us good starts with the new ball, and bowls well in the death overs. I am very happy for him.”

Lala's best friend

At 86 for four while chasing 147, Rahul Chopra was banking on the Lahore-born Asif Khan, one of his best friends in the team, to launch his power game against the Shaheen Shah Afridi-led Pakistan attack.

“Dhruv and I batted cautiously; we were trying to take the game deep, so Lala (Asif Khan) could come and hit his big shots. But unfortunately, Lala didn't click yesterday. If he had, we could have beaten Pakistan last night,” Chopra said before opening up about his friendship with 'Lala'.

“We are very close friends; all these India-Pakistan things are irrelevant for all of us. Everyone here is trying to help each other in the team. We share meals, we go out together as a group when we are on tours, so we have a beautiful bond.”

They may have bowed out of the Asia Cup, but their unity could be the UAE's biggest weapon as they attempt to qualify for next year's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

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