Match Details
Commentary
UAE (Probable XI): Aryansh Sharma (wk), Muhammad Waseem (c), Sohaib Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Harshit Kaushik, Mayank Kumar, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Arfan, Haider Ali, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Jawadullah
New Zealand (Probable XI): Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), Jimmy Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi/Jacob Duffy
Head-to-Head:
New Zealand - 2
UAE - 1
New Zealand - 2
UAE - 1
Preview by Mohammad Anab
In another Group D clash of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, one of the most consistent sides, New Zealand, will face a relatively strong associate nation, UAE, at Chennai's Chepauk Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
This will be UAE's first match of this WC and they will look to start with a win. The Muhammad Waseem-led side qualified for the WC after securing the third spot in the T20 World Cup Asia & EAP Qualifier 2025/26 held in Oman in October 2025. UAE won all their games but two. The losses came against the top-ranked Nepal and second-ranked Oman. Alishan Sharafu was the tournament's leading run scorer with 283 runs from six innings. Dhruv Parashar and Mohd Arfan were the side's leading wicket-takers with six scalps.
There have been some recent developments in their squad. Batter Muhammad Zohaib has been sent back home due to "disciplinary reasons" by the UAE cricket board.
Ahead of the World Cup, UAE played a two-match home series against Ireland, however, the result didn't go in the Gulf side's favour as they lost 2-0. The Emiratis made their T20 WC debut back in 2014, where they lost all three of their games. They then featured in the 2022 edition, where they lost two games but registered a win against Namibia. The side missed out on the qualification in the 2024 edition.
Notably, Muhammad Waseem, Alishan Sharafu and Junaid Siddique are the only three players in the current squad who played in the 2022 WC. However, the side is not very thin on experience as many of its players have gained exposure by playing in various franchise leagues like ILT20, Abu Dhabi T10 and Bangladesh Premier League.
The side played two warm-up games just days before the start of the WC. In the first game against Nepal, they lost by seven wickets after failing to defend their score of 145/6. In the second game against Italy, the side lost by a huge margin of 112 runs after they failed to chase down Italy's score of 193/7.
Notably, UAE have 11 wins in T20Is against full-member nations, which is the most for an associate side alongside Namibia.
New Zealand are coming into this fixture after recording a handsome win in their first fixture against Afghanistan. Most of the Kiwi bowlers were taken to the cleaners as Afghanistan posted a score of 182/6. However, BlackCaps in reply batted really well and went on to chase down the target inside 18 overs with five wickets in hand. The star performers with the bat were Tim Seifert (65) and Glenn Phillips (42).
The side didn't field many of their key players in the first game. They are likely to make some changes and might add another spinner in the form of Michael Bracewell or Ish Sodhi.
In the past, New Zealand and UAE have had no matches between them except for a solitary bilateral series that took place in August 2023 in Dubai. New Zealand won the series but they suffered a defeat in one game. In that game, UAE defeated them by seven wickets with more than four overs to spare.
Can UAE script another 2023-like performance and defeat the BlackCaps? Join us at 2 PM IST & local time on Tuesday for the live coverage.
In another Group D clash of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, one of the most consistent sides, New Zealand, will face a relatively strong associate nation, UAE, at Chennai's Chepauk Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
This will be UAE's first match of this WC and they will look to start with a win. The Muhammad Waseem-led side qualified for the WC after securing the third spot in the T20 World Cup Asia & EAP Qualifier 2025/26 held in Oman in October 2025. UAE won all their games but two. The losses came against the top-ranked Nepal and second-ranked Oman. Alishan Sharafu was the tournament's leading run scorer with 283 runs from six innings. Dhruv Parashar and Mohd Arfan were the side's leading wicket-takers with six scalps.
There have been some recent developments in their squad. Batter Muhammad Zohaib has been sent back home due to "disciplinary reasons" by the UAE cricket board.
Ahead of the World Cup, UAE played a two-match home series against Ireland, however, the result didn't go in the Gulf side's favour as they lost 2-0. The Emiratis made their T20 WC debut back in 2014, where they lost all three of their games. They then featured in the 2022 edition, where they lost two games but registered a win against Namibia. The side missed out on the qualification in the 2024 edition.
Notably, Muhammad Waseem, Alishan Sharafu and Junaid Siddique are the only three players in the current squad who played in the 2022 WC. However, the side is not very thin on experience as many of its players have gained exposure by playing in various franchise leagues like ILT20, Abu Dhabi T10 and Bangladesh Premier League.
The side played two warm-up games just days before the start of the WC. In the first game against Nepal, they lost by seven wickets after failing to defend their score of 145/6. In the second game against Italy, the side lost by a huge margin of 112 runs after they failed to chase down Italy's score of 193/7.
Notably, UAE have 11 wins in T20Is against full-member nations, which is the most for an associate side alongside Namibia.
New Zealand are coming into this fixture after recording a handsome win in their first fixture against Afghanistan. Most of the Kiwi bowlers were taken to the cleaners as Afghanistan posted a score of 182/6. However, BlackCaps in reply batted really well and went on to chase down the target inside 18 overs with five wickets in hand. The star performers with the bat were Tim Seifert (65) and Glenn Phillips (42).
The side didn't field many of their key players in the first game. They are likely to make some changes and might add another spinner in the form of Michael Bracewell or Ish Sodhi.
In the past, New Zealand and UAE have had no matches between them except for a solitary bilateral series that took place in August 2023 in Dubai. New Zealand won the series but they suffered a defeat in one game. In that game, UAE defeated them by seven wickets with more than four overs to spare.
Can UAE script another 2023-like performance and defeat the BlackCaps? Join us at 2 PM IST & local time on Tuesday for the live coverage.
SQUAD UPDATE:
UAE batter Muhammad Zohaib has been sent back home due to "disciplinary reasons", the UAE cricket board has confirmed.
UAE batter Muhammad Zohaib has been sent back home due to "disciplinary reasons", the UAE cricket board has confirmed.
UAE Squad: Muhammad Waseem (c), Aryansh Sharma (wk), Alishan Sharafu, Harshit Kaushik, Mayank Kumar, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Arfan, Haider Ali, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Rohid Khan, Simranjeet Singh, Sohaib Khan, Muhammad Farooq
New Zealand Squad: Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen (wk), Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy, James Neesham, Matt Henry, Devon Conway (wk), Mark Chapman