The sport of cricket was introduced to the UAE by the Englishmen. The country over the past several years has grown its interest in the sport by giving several performances, including its four consecutive wins for the ACC Trophy between the years 2000 and 2006. The list below mentions the top 10 bowlers of the national cricket team of the United Arab Emirates based on top cricket news
- ZAHOOR KHAN
Born in Faisalabad, Pakistan, Khan made his debut as a UAE player in the 2017 Desert T20 Challenge. The right-handed medium fast bowler since then has 60 ODI wickets with the best bowling figures of 6/34. Khan has successfully knocked 46 wickets off in his 37 T20 International matches and is one of the most dependable players for the UAE. His best T20 international figures are of 4/29 against Namibia in the year 2021. The pacer has also made his name among the top 10 bowlers with the fastest 50 wickets in One Day Cricket.
- PALANIAPAN MEIYAPPAN
The Indian-born cricketer, Karthik Palaniapan Meiyappan made his One Day International debut for the UAE in 2019 and has been in the ODI squad for Emirati ever since. The 21-year-old right-handed spinner is known for his leg-cutting deliveries. His ODI debut wicket of Aaron Jones in the death over was pretty impressive and his performance in the T20 only got better. He took a total of 22 wickets in his 14 T20 International matches with the best bowling figure of 4/25. Karthik’s best ODI performance was in 2022 where he took 4 wickets in a series against Nambia and gave a mere 37 runs in 9 overs.
- SULTAN AHMED
Another Pakistan-born player who made his way to the international cricket team of UAE is Sultan Ahmed. He played his first T20 International as an Emirati player in 2017 against Papua New Guinea. He took one wicket of Vani Morea during the initial overs for UAE and impressed the masses with his debut performance.
The 33-year-old left-arm spinner has 22 wickets in his 25 T20 International matches, with the best bowling score of 4/9 against Kuwait in February 2020. The player started his ODI career in 2019 against Zimbabwe and has missing from the scene after his first two ODI matches.
- JUNAID SIDDIQUE
Born in the city of Multan in Pakistan, Muhammad Junaid Siddique is an Emirati cricket player under the bowling category. The right-handed fast bowler made his international debut for the UAE in 2019 against Oman. Junaid made for a solid debut performance with one wicket and 13 runs for 3 overs. Despite the loss of UAE, the praise for his performance made his debut successful.
The pacer has bagged 30 wickets in 20 ODI matches under his name, with the best bowling figure of 4/12 against Qatar in 2020.
Junaid’s scoreboard in the 2023 International League T20 (ILT20) has been impressive till now. In his latest match against the Gulf Giants, he knocked off 2 wickets of Tom Banton and Shimron Hetmyer for his team the Sharjah Warriors.
- ADHITYA SHETTY
Shetty emerged as a new-age Emirati cricketer after his debut in the Asia Cricket Council Under-19s Asia Cup against India in 2019. Shetty is an all-rounder and has impressive figures as a batsman and bowler. His bowling graph with 51 wickets in 29 matches is pretty impressive for a newcomer.
The bowler usually delivers and his performance in the quarter-finals of the ICC Under 19 Men’s World Cup 2022 was one of the best in his career. During his 10-over bowling, he gave a mere 29 runs and knocked a whopping 4 wickets for the UAE Under-19s. The 18-year-old with his back-to-back achievements is proving himself to be one of the most promising rising players of the sport.
- BASIL HAMEED
The Indian-born cricketer Basil Hameed, with impressive batting and bowling scores, is an all-rounder who made his ODI debut as an Emirati player in 2019 against the USA. In his career, Hameed has a total of 33 wickets in 28 ODI matches under his name, with the best bowling score of 5/17 and a bowling average of 17.09. The right-arm off-spinner has 15 T20 International wickets under his belt, with the best bowling figure of 3/20 and a bowling average of 14.06. Hameed is also among the top 20 players with the highest number of wickets in a series.
- AHMED RAZA
The 34-year-old left-arm spinner is one of the most dependable Emirati players in international cricket. He has knocked 64 wickets in 53 ODIs and 37 T20 International wickets in his international cricket career of more than seven years. Ahmed’s best bowling figures in One Day Cricket are 5/26, with an average of 24.42, and 5/19 in T20 International.
He was made the caption of the UAE’s cricket team for the 2022 T20 World Cup and completed 5 maiden overs in T20 Internationals during the same time.
Ahmed’s performance in the qualifying round of the 2016 Asia Cup was instrumental for UAE’s win, where he knocked 2 wickets off and gave a mere 16 runs in 9 overs of bowling.
- Mohammad Naveed
The right-handed medium-fast bowler made his international debut for the UAE in an ODI against Scotland in 2017. He has a total of 53 ODI wickets, and his best bowling score of 5/28 was against Papua New Guinea in 2018. Naveed’s performance in the 2016 T20I was his best, with a bowling figure of 3/14.
His cricket career ended shortly after his match against the Netherlands in the 2019 UAE series due to a series of alleged corruption charges against him.
- Rohan Mustafa
Starting his international career in 2014, Mustafa has played an important role in the United Arab Emirates cricket journey. His top-order batting and off-break spinning make him an all-rounder. His 2017 ODI against Papua New Guinea when he took 5 wickets for 25 runs and scored a century as an opening batsman is still remembered as one of his best performances.
He has 60 ODI and 61 T20 International wickets under his name and is among the top 15 players with the best bowling figures in an inning by a caption.
