Will UAE punch above their weight in Group A?

United Arab Emirates (UAE) are set to play their second Asia Cup which begins later this month. ESPNcricinfo takes a look at how the home team shapes up ahead of the tournament.

UAE qualified for the Asia Cup by winning the ACC Men's Premier Cup 2024. The tournament in Oman featured ten sides, with the top three guaranteed qualification for the eight-team Asia Cup. After finishing second in their group, UAE defeated Nepal in the semi-finals, before going on to beat Oman - the side they lost to in the group - in the final.

UAE's recent results show quite a gap between their floor and ceiling. Since May 2025, and before the recent tri-series with Afghanistan and Pakistan, they had won six out of nine. That included a come-from-behind series win over Bangladesh. It was followed by an inconsistent tournament in Uganda, where they won three of their five games, but were ultimately pipped to first place by the hosts. The tri-series has seen them squander advantageous positions in just about every game, demonstrating flashes of quality even against the more decorated sides, without quite the experience to sustain it over 40 overs.

As with most sides on the fringes of the elite, match outcomes depend heavily on individual stars having good games. Sides like the UAE do not quite have quality running through each position in the way the more established teams do. The first name on the team sheet is their talismanic captain and opener Muhammad Waseem, whose explosiveness up top is instrumental to useful starts with the bat. He strikes at over 155 in 2025, and has proved a focal point of quality for the Asia Cup hosts.

The only batter in the side with a more explosive record is Asif Khan, more specialised at finishing the innings off with his big hitting straight down the ground. On lower, slower tracks like the kind the UAE is likely to throw up for the tournament, left-arm spinner Haider Ali has the record to instil optimism. He was the leading wicket-taker in that tournament in Uganda, and the pick of the bowlers in the team's second fixture against Pakistan in the tri-series.

UAE have been placed alongside defending champions India, Pakistan and Oman in Group A. They take on India to start off in Dubai, before a fixture against Oman in Abu Dhabi, and then one versus Pakistan in Dubai two days later. They will need to finish in the top two to make it to the Super Four.

The UAE has only ever played one T20 Asia Cup in the past - in 2016 in Bangladesh. That year, the qualifying stage was melded in with the tournament proper, and the UAE eased through that first stage with wins over Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Oman. In the second stage, they finished bottom, losing all four games.

Muhammad Waseem (capt), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wk), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D'Souza, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Matiullah Khan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Rohid Khan, Simranjeet Singh and Saghir Khan