Muhammad Waseem to lead UAE in T20Is against Ireland

Muhammad Waseem will captain UAE's T20I squad in a two-match series against Ireland in Dubai in the lead-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup. UAE play Ireland on January 29 and 31 before the sides travel to the subcontinent for the tournament in India and Sri Lanka.

The first match will begin at 6.30 pm local time on Thursday, and the second match at 10.00 am local time on Saturday.

UAE, however, are yet to announce their squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup. USA and Sri Lanka are the only other countries in the 20-team competition that have not yet named their squads.

UAE are in Group D at the T20 World Cup and play New Zealand in Chennai on February 10 after which they travel to Delhi to play Canada on February 13 and Afghanistan on February 16.

Ireland are in Group B and play all their matches in Colombo: against Sri Lanka on February 8 and the Premadasa Stadium, against Australia on February 11 at the Premadasa Stadium, and against Oman on February 14 at the Sinhalese Sports Club.

The 20 teams have been divided into four groups of five each in the first round of the World Cup. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eight round, where the eight teams will be divided into two groups of four each. The teams that finish first and second in each super eight group will qualify for the semi-finals.

Muhammad Waseem (capt), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wk), Basil Hameed, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Arfan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Rohid Khan, Sohaib Khan and Simranjeet Singh.