UAE captain Amjad Javed has challenged his team to end their disappointing year on a high with a consolation victory against Afghanistan on Sunday.
It’s been a frustrating 2016 for the hosts, who have struggled to replicate the form that saw them qualify for the 2015 World Cup, while also seeing Aaqib Javed end his successful four-year stint as coach in May.
In 28 matches in all formats, the UAE have only registered eight victories, including the three wins that saw them reach the Asia Cup main tournament in March. All-rounder Amjad admits he’s been frustrated with the results in the last 12 months but insists a win over Afhganistan in the final T20 of the series in Dubai, in which they have already lost, will give them a lot of confidence.
“Definitely it’s not been a good year,” said Amjad, installed as skipper in all formats in 2016.
“We would’ve like to have won some matches but at times, we just lost out. It could’ve have been a different story but now we can only focus on the future. If you see the performances of the team during the last year, everyone can see that we’re not playing well. We’ve been playing okay but not concentrating fully enough.
“If we can win this game against Afghanistan, it will be really good for us and it will motivate us for future matches in 2017.”
His team’s last success was in October during the six-wicket victory against Oman, but Amjad insists he’s seeing signs of improvement in their recent defeats.
“We pushed England Lions all the way in the third game and only lost by a few runs, while we came really close to beating Afghanistan on Friday, so we can be dangerous when we play to our potential,” he said. “To win the game, everyone needs to focus on every ball and play their part because it’s a team effort.
“As soon as you win one game, you can start building on that.”
