UAE coach Lalchand Rajput confident team in good place for challenge of one-day cricket

National team return to format for first time in six months for tri-nations series involving United States and Namibia

Lalchand Rajput took over as UAE coach just before the troubled series in Dubai at the start of the year that saw them trounced twice by Canada and once by Scotland. Subas Humagain for The National

The last time the UAE cricket team played 50-over cricket, they needed a historically epic storm to save them.

The national team’s troubles in the format lingered on into the start of the new Cricket World Cup League 2 programme at the start of this year. They were trounced twice by Canada and once by Scotland in matches at the Dubai International Stadium.

They were spared the potential indignity of a four-game series whitewash when the government called a halt to sports events due to the impending storm back in March, postponing their second match against Scotland as a result.

The UAE will return to the format for the first time in six months when they play a tri-series, also involving the United States and Namibia, in Windhoek. Their campaign begins when they face the USA on Wednesday.

Time has not been left to be the only healer. New personnel have been sought as well. Only five of the starting XI for their last match in the competition have been retained.

Tanish Suri, Vriitya Aravind, CP Rizwan, Zuhaib Zubair, Sanchit Sharma and Zahoor Khan are all conspicuous by their absence from the squad named by the UAE.

Mohammed Jawadullah, the left-arm seamer, is back following injury while Mohammed Farooq, Syed Haider and Omid Rahman are all in line for one-day international debuts.

The trio have been part of the national team squad before, though, and all have tasted success with the UAE already, too. They were part of the side which claimed Asia Cup qualification the last time the national team was in competitive action.

Tellingly, that success came in T20, a format of the game in which the UAE have been far more confident for years now.

Lalchand Rajput, the UAE coach, said they have been doing their best to address the issues of the longer format over the past half a year.

“We have been keeping them busy, it is not like there has been nothing happening,” Rajput, the former India batter, said. “It is the area we really have to work hard to improve, and we have been playing a lot of 50-over [practice] games.

“If you take the example of the bowlers, if they play too much T20 and T10, the bowlers are used to bowling only four overs. They bowl only two at the start and two at the end, and they have been doing that for years now.

“In 50 overs, you have to bowl five at the front, two in the middle, then three at the death. If you are fielding for 45 overs, then have to bowl those death overs, the fitness aspect is very important, and the mental aspect is very important.

“We have been training them to bowl in those sections of the game, and in between they have been doing fitness and fielding sessions. That way, the workload is taken care of.”

The Wanderers in Windhoek, where this series will be played, has been the site of a number of celebrated UAE triumphs in recent years.

They should feel at home at the venue given that even their A-team and women’s sides have been playing there in the past few weeks.

Perhaps the only member of the tour party who is not entirely familiar with the surroundings just yet is Rajput.

He was appointed just before the troubled series against Canada and Scotland in Dubai. He was able to address the wrongs of that campaign to the point where the national team won Asia Cup qualification next time out, and he is hopeful five more months with the side will also have a positive effect on results.

“It was a matter of a few days then we were into that [CWCL2] series,” Rajput said. “The players didn’t know my ideas and there was no bonding, either. It takes time for us to get to know each other.

“After that, we had a one-month gap between that series and going to Oman. You could see the difference it made as we qualified for the Asia Cup.

“When you get time, you get to know the players, and you get the chance to put forward your thinking to them. I have had the chance to talk about what is required for 50-over cricket, and T20 as well.

“When you prepare well, you can achieve. It is like going for an exam. If you don’t prepare, you are not going to do well in the exam.”