There is no India-Pakistan in our team, says UAE skipper Waseem

Chennai: UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem on Monday said the developments regarding the India-Pakistan match have no bearing on his team, asserting that players from different nationalities function as one unit in his side.

Pakistan have decided to boycott the February 15 T20 World Cup match against India in solidarity with Bangladesh, who were replaced by Scotland after refusing to travel to India citing security concerns.

However, in the latest development, Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi is likely to request his Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, to withdraw the boycott of their match against India after being persuaded to do so by his Bangladesh counterpart.

“No, to be honest, there is no India-Pakistan. We are playing for the UAE, and we are always treating ourselves like a family,” Waseem said on the eve of their T20 World Cup opener against New Zealand.

“We are living like a family, friends. We are spending time together, eating together. There is no Indian-Pakistani in the United Arab Emirates team, to be honest.”

Waseem also spoke about the influence of Indian head coach Lalchand Rajput, who took charge of the UAE side in 2024.

“He has so much experience in India. He is working with the boys; he is telling them everything about the pitches and the other things.

“So it helped us a lot, and we are working on that, and inshallah you will see tomorrow the same things he told the boys.”

Set to face New Zealand, Waseem said UAE would draw inspiration from their landmark win over the Black Caps in 2023, their first international victory against them.

“Our strategy is very simple. We beat them before in UAE, but this time it’s a different venue, different tournament, different ground, and different game also,” he said.

“So we came up with the other plan right now. So yes, they are a good team. They also have experience. But we work very well. And we prepared ourselves like a champion team. So inshallah, we will try to play a good cricket match against them tomorrow.”

Reflecting on the preparations, he added, “Yeah, preparation is going very well, to be honest. Boys are working very hard for the big events, and we came here with a different mindset and mentality. So you will see tomorrow the way the boys will play.”

Not focused on India-Pak match: Mohsin

In Colombo, USA, all-rounder Mohammad Mohsin said his side is unconcerned about developments surrounding the India-Pakistan fixture and is focused solely on qualifying for the Super 8.

“We are not focusing on what is happening in the group. Our focus is on our own games only. We knew from the beginning that if we beat either India or Pakistan, our chances were very bright, as we have played a lot of cricket with the other two associate nations,” Mohsin said ahead of their clash against Pakistan.

“We know their cricket well. We have beaten them in the recent past, in the 50 overs and T20 formats. We were confident about those two games, but Pakistan and India’s game is such that if we win one of these games, we can make our qualification in the Super 8.

“The way we played the first game, we have good confidence and we hope that tomorrow we will play a good and we hope it will be a good one.”

Mohsin said the pressure would be on Pakistan, which the USA had beaten in the previous edition.

“I think this year, a major difference is that our strength has increased. We spoke about it in a way where we carry forward that confidence we gained from beating them in the last World Cup, and hopefully tomorrow we will be more confident than last time, and we’ll have a good fight against them.”

USA had given India a scare in their opener, reducing the defending champions to 77 for six before Suryakumar Yadav’s 84 off 49 balls lifted India to 161 for nine, a total that proved sufficient.

“I think that first game was a massive one for us, even though we ended up losing, but we gained a lot of confidence, especially as a bowling unit.

“In the practice games as a bowling unit, we struggled a bit. Our batting is our strong core, but that last game has given us a lot of confidence, and I think you will see in the future games – we as a bowling group will be doing better and better every game.”