UAE: Emirates Cricket Board announces 20 men’s central contracts

The selection committee of the Emirates Cricket Board has recently announced the names of twenty players that have been given central contracts. There are ten players who have been given full-time contracts while the other ten has been given part-time contracts. All of the contracts are twelve months in length.  

When talking about the players that have been awarded contracts Dr Tayeb Kamali, Emirates Cricket Selection Committee Chairman, was quoted as stating ‘The Selection Committee is delighted with the number of young and enthusiastic players we identified for this group. Every one of them bring a broad range of complementing skills required to strongly represent the UAE at both the Associate and international stages … As we eagerly wait for ICC Men’s World Cup 2023 pathway to recommence, opportunities such as the Emirates D10 and Emirates D20 tournaments will help prepare this group into a cohesive and a high-performing team.’ 

Mubashshir Usmani, the General Secretary of the Emirates Cricket, stated that ‘Such an increase in contracted player-numbers is a very rewarding milestone for our Board, and one we are committed to building upon to ensure that UAE Cricket has a good group of players to call on as we move toward restarting a regular playing calendar.’

Vriitya Aravind, Jonathan Figy or Darius D’Silva were not included in the list, all of whom are studying overseas. There was no mention of why Rameez Shahzad was left out.

Full time:

Rohan Mustafa
Ahmed Raza
Mohammad Usman
Chirag Suri
Muhammad Boota
Sultan Ahmad
Zahoor Khan
Junaid Siddique
Waheed Ahmad
Zawar Farid

Part Time:

Aryan Lakra
Alishan Sharaf
Karthik Meiyappan
Rahul Bhatia
Alishan Tandon
CP Rizwaan
Basil Hamid
Matti Ullah
Fahad Nawaz
Sanchit Sharma

The UAE’s next fixtures will see them host matches against Ireland on January 8, 10, 12 and 14. All matches will be livestreamed.

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