Former Pakistan bowler joins UAE camp for T20 World Cup 2026

UAE appoint former Pakistani star as their bowling coach [Source: @EmiratesCricket/x.com]

Former Pakistan bowler Yasir Arafat has been appointed as the United Arab Emirates’ new bowling coach ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka. This comes as a significant development for the team as they aim to strengthen their bowling unit ahead of the major event.

The UAE Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed Yasir Arafat’s appointment while announcing the team’s World Cup squad. Arafat has already started his work with the team and is currently with them for the two-match T20I series against Ireland. According to the board, this will allow them to further refine the bowling plans.

ECB’s statement on appointing Yasir Arafat

“Former Pakistan fast bowler Yasir Arafat (27 international matches for Pakistan) has joined the squad as fast bowling coach for the tournament. Since taking up coaching at the end of his playing career, Yasir has coached various national teams and prominent franchises from around the world," the Emirates Cricket Board said in a statement.

"The 43-year-old will work with the UAE team during the World Cup and the preceding two-match T20I series against Ireland," the statement further read.

Arafat’s experience will come in handy for the UAE

Arafat has extensive experience in the T20 format, having represented Pakistan in the 2007 and 2012 T20 World Cups. His coaching experience is also significant, and it was further strengthened when he became the first Pakistani cricketer to obtain the ECB Level Four coaching qualification from Loughborough University, which is considered a significant milestone in the field of high-performance coaching.

He has coached England’s county teams Sussex and Surrey before this, and has also worked with the Perth Scorchers in Australia’s Big Bash League. Apart from that, he has also served as a high-performance coach in Pakistan’s cricket structure, bowling coach for the Hong Kong cricket team and bowling consultant for South Africa.

A tough challenge awaits the UAE

In the meantime, the UAE are placed in Group D of the T20 World Cup along with Afghanistan, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. This will be a great challenge for them, but also an opportunity to take on some of the giants of T20 cricket.

Afghanistan, New Zealand, and South Africa are among the best T20 teams in the world, and going up against them will always be difficult. However, they would want to step up with their best foot forward to face this massive challenge.

They did not qualify for the last edition of the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA, but have a golden chance to prove they deserve to be among the teams competing for the world title. They last played in the 2022 edition, where they finished at the bottom of Group A, with one win in three games.

UAE’s squad for T20 World Cup 2026

Muhammad Waseem (C), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (WK), Dhruv Parashar, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Mayank Kumar, Muhammad Arfan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rohid Khan, Sohaib Khan, Simranjeet Singh