The UAE cricket team suffered a major setback a day before the match against New Zealand in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2026. The Emirates Cricket Board released their batsman Muhammad Zohaib before the match due to disciplinary reasons.
On 9 February, it was reported that Muhammad Zohaib is no longer part of the UAE cricket squad for the T20 World Cup 2026. He will return home as the cricket board will decide to release him from the main team.
UAE is all set to face New Zealand
On Tuesday (February 10), UAE will begin their 2026 T20 World Cup campaign, where they will face a formidable New Zealand side. This will be his first World Cup match after 2022.
Despite the setback, the UAE team will be missing the 22-year-old as he is far from being an in-form cricketer. Despite getting repeated opportunities, both with bat and ball, Muhammad Zohaib struggled to showcase his talent for the national cricket team.
According to statistics, Zohaib made his debut for UAE in May 2025. Since then, he has played 16 T20 matches and scored only 303 runs at an average of 20.20 and a strike rate of 103.76.
Despite the failure, the captain looked full of confidence
Ahead of the match against New Zealand, UAE captain Muhammad Wasim highlighted his team’s unity and preparation. He believes that with a balanced team and quality of India and Pakistan origin, they can do well against a quality Kiwi team.
It is noteworthy that UAE had successfully defeated New Zealand once in 2022. From this match, they may get some much-needed confidence before the T20 World Cup 2026. In place of Zohaib, 21 year old Aryansh Sharma is expected to pair with the captain.
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Wasim said, “Our strategy is very simple. We had beaten them in the UAE before, but this time it is a different venue, a different tournament, a different ground and also a different game. So we have just come up with another plan.”
He further added, “So yes, they are a good team and they have experience as well. But we do a very good job and we have prepared ourselves like a champion team. We will try to play good cricket against them tomorrow.”
The New Zealand vs UAE T20 World Cup 2026 match will take place at 3 PM IST at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The match is expected to be played on a red clay pitch, which will be very challenging for the UAE cricket team, as they are not used to this type of surface.
New Zealand had achieved a crucial 5-wicket win over Afghanistan in their previous match. They will take the field tomorrow to continue the winning streak.
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