Muhammad Zohaib of the United Arab Emirates plays a shot (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) NEW DELHI: The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) on Monday announced that all-rounder Muhammad Zohaib has been sent back from the team due to disciplinary issues, but did not share more details on the matter. “Muhammad Zohaib has been sent back due to disciplinary issues. Further details will be provided in due course. The ECB will not comment further on this matter at this stage,” the board said in a statement.
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Meanwhile, UAE captain Muhammad Waseem has made it clear that the tensions surrounding the India-Pakistan matches are not affecting his team ahead of their opening T20 World Cup match against New Zealand on Tuesday. He emphasized that the UAE unit is united regardless of nationality. “No, to be honest, there is no India-Pakistan. We play for the UAE and always treat each other as a family,” Waseem said. He added: “We live like a family, friends. We spend time together, we eat together. To be honest, there is no Indo-Pakistani in the UAE team.”Waseem also praised India’s head coach Lalchand Rajput, who joined the team in 2024. He said Rajput’s experience helped the players understand the conditions better. “He has so much experience with India. He works with the boys; he tells everything about the pitches and stuff. So it helped us a lot and we are working on it and tomorrow you will see the same thing he told the boys,” he added.Looking ahead to the match against New Zealand, Waseem said the UAE will take confidence from their historic win over the Black Caps in 2023. “Our strategy is very simple. We beat them in the UAE before, but this time it’s a different place, a different tournament, a different pitch and also a different game,” he said. “So we have come up with a different plan right now… we have prepared like a championship team. So inshallah we will try to play some good cricket against them tomorrow.”He also said the team is well prepared, adding: “Yes, the preparation is going very well to be honest… we came here with a different mindset and mentality. So you’ll see how the boys play tomorrow.”
