Javed lists Asia Cup qualification as one of his biggest achievements

Denzil Pinto 10:52 23/02/2016
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  • On top of the world: Aaqib Javed and UAE cricket.

    UAE coach Aaqib Javed has  described Asia Cup qualification as one of the biggest achievements of his four years in charge.

    The 43-year-old masterminded three consecutive victories, including yesterday’s 71-run win over Oman to claim the only qualification berth for the main event, which begins tomorrow.

    After overcoming Afghanistan, Hong Kong and yesterday’s opponents, his troops will now meet India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh for the continental title.

    With the team going through a transitional period and with only six players retained from his 2015 World Cup squad, Javed admits this feat is up there among his best.

    “This is one of the biggest achievements for me since I’ve been in charge and it’s the icing on the cake because the Asia Cup is really famous in Asia,” he said.

    “There will be a lot of people watching the competition and especially in the UAE, so it’s great for the players.

    “We have now qualified for four major competitions (U-19 World Cup, 2014 World Twenty20 and 2015 World Cup) and now the Asia Cup.

    “The Asia Cup qualification was always going to be hard as Oman, Hong Kong and Afghanistan were competing but we’re pleased to come out on top and we can now move forward.”

    He added: “To be honest, it’s been a really tough six months or so for us. It’s a great performance by the team and the confidence is high.”

    Skipper Amjad Javed added: “We came to Bangladesh with a very simple target, we came here to win all the games.

    “We didn’t want run-rate to come into consideration. The players and coaching team were confident we could win all our games and qualify and we did that.”

    Mohammad Kaleem, who scored 50 runs against Oman, was lost for words.

    He said: “It’s just an honour to be part of this squad. We’ve achieved something big and I really enjoyed playing in front of the television cameras.

    “I just played to my strengths and played my shots. I had to really step up because we lost an early wicket but got good partnerships going and we scored a big total.”

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