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raajiv tripathi
DOHA
Qatar captain Iqbal Hussain Chaudhry welcomed the three-match T20 International series against Uganda, saying it would help his team assess its plus and minus points well before the important ACC Western Region qualifiers for the 2020 Asia Cup.
The first T20I match between Qatar and Uganda is scheduled at the Asian Town Stadium on Wednesday at 6 pm. It will be followed by the second one on Thursday before the tourists taken on the President’s Eleven in a 50-over-a-side contest on Friday. The third and last T20I is slated on Saturday.
“This is the first series of the year and I hope we will have a good chance to evaluate ourselves against a competitive side ahead of the ACC Western Region qualifiers for the 2020 Asia Cup. There is no pressure on us, though we are ranked higher than Uganda. We have played them before and we had won the match.
“We’ve prepared ourselves well during the winter. We’re not going to take the rivals lightly. The main goal of the matches is to try out the entire squad and try to keep improving so that we are fully geared up to play our best in Muscat,” Chaudhry added.
After the series, Qatar will travel to Muscat, Oman to figure in the eight-team ACC T20I Western Region qualifiers for the 2020 Asia Cup. Al Annabi are placed in Pool A along with Maldives, Bahrain and hosts Oman. Pool B consists of Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Qatar’s opening match is against Maldives in Muscat on February. Oman will be their next opponents on February 24 and they will wrap up the pool play against Bahrain on February 25. The semi-finals are scheduled on February 26, to be followed by the final on the next day.
Two top teams will join the best two from the Eastern Region in the Final Qualifiers, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in August to determine the sixth team for the Asia Cup, to be hosted Pakistan in September. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the teams that have been placed directly in the Asia Cup.
Chaudhry is aware that Qatar will have to bring their A game to the Western Region event. “We’ll have to play to the best of our abilities in Muscat as Oman and the UAE have got good levels. If we have to be the No. 1 there, we’ll have to play a tough cricket.”
Chaudhry was delighted with the inclusion of Imal Malindu. “The team has mad three changes. Imal has been cleared by the International Cricket Council and he is eligible to play for Qatar now. He is a good First Class player and hopefully, he will strengthen the team. Two players were not relieved by their offices so we had to replace them.
“Tamoor (Sajjad) is not in the team right now. But he will be available on the Oman tour for the Western Region qualifier. The Qatar Cricket Association is also trying to convince the offices of the players who have not been allowed leaves. We’re all playing for the national cause and I feel their respective offices will also understand this,” Chaudhry added.
The Qatar skipper said the team is confident ahead of the three-game series. “We’ve been playing well for the past two years. We have won nine out of 15 matches during this period. Of course we’re on a learning curve but one thing is clear that we keep fighting till the end. We’ll continue to use these matches to enrich our experience so that we can handle the pressure situations during the matches well.”
DOHA
Qatar captain Iqbal Hussain Chaudhry welcomed the three-match T20 International series against Uganda, saying it would help his team assess its plus and minus points well before the important ACC Western Region qualifiers for the 2020 Asia Cup.
The first T20I match between Qatar and Uganda is scheduled at the Asian Town Stadium on Wednesday at 6 pm. It will be followed by the second one on Thursday before the tourists taken on the President’s Eleven in a 50-over-a-side contest on Friday. The third and last T20I is slated on Saturday.
“This is the first series of the year and I hope we will have a good chance to evaluate ourselves against a competitive side ahead of the ACC Western Region qualifiers for the 2020 Asia Cup. There is no pressure on us, though we are ranked higher than Uganda. We have played them before and we had won the match.
“We’ve prepared ourselves well during the winter. We’re not going to take the rivals lightly. The main goal of the matches is to try out the entire squad and try to keep improving so that we are fully geared up to play our best in Muscat,” Chaudhry added.
After the series, Qatar will travel to Muscat, Oman to figure in the eight-team ACC T20I Western Region qualifiers for the 2020 Asia Cup. Al Annabi are placed in Pool A along with Maldives, Bahrain and hosts Oman. Pool B consists of Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Qatar’s opening match is against Maldives in Muscat on February. Oman will be their next opponents on February 24 and they will wrap up the pool play against Bahrain on February 25. The semi-finals are scheduled on February 26, to be followed by the final on the next day.
Two top teams will join the best two from the Eastern Region in the Final Qualifiers, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in August to determine the sixth team for the Asia Cup, to be hosted Pakistan in September. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the teams that have been placed directly in the Asia Cup.
Chaudhry is aware that Qatar will have to bring their A game to the Western Region event. “We’ll have to play to the best of our abilities in Muscat as Oman and the UAE have got good levels. If we have to be the No. 1 there, we’ll have to play a tough cricket.”
Chaudhry was delighted with the inclusion of Imal Malindu. “The team has mad three changes. Imal has been cleared by the International Cricket Council and he is eligible to play for Qatar now. He is a good First Class player and hopefully, he will strengthen the team. Two players were not relieved by their offices so we had to replace them.
“Tamoor (Sajjad) is not in the team right now. But he will be available on the Oman tour for the Western Region qualifier. The Qatar Cricket Association is also trying to convince the offices of the players who have not been allowed leaves. We’re all playing for the national cause and I feel their respective offices will also understand this,” Chaudhry added.
The Qatar skipper said the team is confident ahead of the three-game series. “We’ve been playing well for the past two years. We have won nine out of 15 matches during this period. Of course we’re on a learning curve but one thing is clear that we keep fighting till the end. We’ll continue to use these matches to enrich our experience so that we can handle the pressure situations during the matches well.”
