New Delhi, Feb 17 (IANS) United Arab Emirates (UAE) head coach Lalchand Rajput has called on the cricketing world to sit up and take notice of the performance of associate nations in the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, insisting that they have more than earned the right to be taken seriously on the global stage.
UAE will be taking the flight back home after playing their Group D fixture against South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday. But they will be taking a lot of heart from the fact that they defeated Canada, while putting out good batting performance against New Zealand and running Afghanistan close.
“I think I’m not surprised with the associate teams because we play among the themselves and they all are good teams. It’s a big platform for the associates to show off their talent and I think they have done that. If you look at overall cricket all over the world, I think the smaller teams are coming up and it’s a good thing that cricket is growing,” said Rajput in the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
Other teams have also put up notable performances – Nepal gave England an almighty scare and Netherlands came close to beating Pakistan. USA had both India and Pakistan in troubled waters, while Scotland also troubled West Indies and England. Italy, who got their first T20 World Cup win over Nepal, made things interesting against England with the ball.
Amidst all this, Canada, Namibia and Oman had their moments to shine, but have been winless so far. “I think that associate countries have put their hand and said that don’t take us lightly. In this tournament, there were very close games. So hopefully, next time it will be a better match-up and those teams will even come much better prepared as well,” added Rajput.
The former India opener, who was the manager of the 2007 Men’s T20 World Cup winning team, argued that no training session can replicate the pressure of a live game, particularly when a side finds itself in a crisis or chasing down a target in the final overs.
“Yes, associate countries should play more games. Until you don’t play matches, you won’t be in that situation. No matter how much net practice you do, but how can you come out of tight situations like 80-5? Or how can you win a match if you need 30 runs in the last two overs? You won’t feel it until you play on the ground.
“So, the more matches you play with good teams, and the more situations you face – you might win only 1 out of 5 games, but it will grow your confidence that next time if you come in the same situation, you will be able to win.
“There should be matches and definitely ICC is working, that’s why this T20 World Cup has 20 teams – so, hopefully, I think this will keep on growing and more associates will follow and realise that if we qualified for the World Cup, we would have got a bigger chance to showcase our talent,” elaborated Rajput.
Once they are done with the T20 World Cup, UAE will shift focus to qualify for the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup. They are currently at bottom place in the eight-team World Cricket League 2 points table, which is currently led by USA.
“See, the calendar doesn’t allow that thing, but the associate countries play amongst the associate countries as well. See, it’s a TV rights, media, sponsorship thing because everybody is going to the top 10 teams as well. So, they have calendar as well. It’s one aspect where they can’t play more games because of the monetary funding as well.
“So I think, now this World Cup will definitely show that the associate countries are good enough so that they always get more funding and play more matches. Now, we have to play more games for the qualification. So we have, I think, 16 more games to play (for ODI World Cup qualification). They call it World Cup League 2 qualifiers. So, qualifying is based on those matches as well and we play, but it is divided over a period of two-three years.
“Then in between we play T20s and have to be in those matches. Then some players, I think, they go on to retire, or have injuries. So there are a lot of challenges we face, but we are getting it there, and I’m sure this tournament will give a lot of boost for the players and to keep them motivated and train hard, where they know that it’s a big platform that the whole world is watching them,” added Rajput.
“T20 is definitely a format where you can’t take things lightly. Any team that can perform better on that particular day will win. So it gives a chance to play fearless cricket, which normally these associate countries play a lot in the T20 format. So I think T20 is one of the favourite format for most of the players also in the associate countries, while 50 overs I think is a longer format.
“As I said, Test-playing countries, they play a lot of three-day and four-day games in domestic cricket also. So that’s one area where, because players don’t know how to bat for a long period of time. So that’s one challenge is what we normally face, but it is getting there.
“Even in UAE, I started red ball cricket for two days because they don’t play in a two-day competition and the players get to know how to bat for a longer period of time. In T20, you hardly get 120 balls. So that the top four-five batsmen, they’ll just come and play fearless cricket.
“But in 50 overs, there will be a phase where you lose early two-three wickets. Players have to bat for longer, say 20 overs or 30 overs even. So that adaptation has to be done and will be done only if you play a lot of longer format game.
Asked about the particular appeal of T20 cricket for associate nations, Rajput explained why the shortest format tends to suit teams without the deep domestic infrastructure of Test-playing nations. He also outlined that as the UAE head coach; he even introduced red-ball cricket to a playing group more accustomed to playing T10 and T20.
“The only thing missing is that two-day or three-day format. That’s going to be helpful for the 50-over format. We are trying to inculcate in our domestic cricket that at least play two-day games, so that the players come to learn how to play big innings.
“Even for the bowlers in a 50-over game, a bowler has to bowl ten overs, but he’s only playing T20 and T10. When you tell him to play 50-overs, and bowl ten overs, that’s not the same as when he is used to bowling four overs.
Rajput also credited the UAE-based ILT20 as a key accelerator of talent development for the national side, while highlighting how the ICC Academy facilities have been a boon for the team.
“ILT20 has definitely helped the UAE players because they rub shoulders with the top players and it’s just three years old. If you look at some players, those who have played in ILT20 like Waseem, Alishan, they’re all product of ILT20 as well, like Haider Ali, and then Junaid. That gives confidence because they bowl to better batters and they get to bat against better bowlers.
“Facilities are excellent there. We get the facilities to train and play matches. And we don’t complain about that because we get the best facilities. That’s why the players also are very keen to perform better,” he concluded.
–IANS
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