NELSON, New Zealand —
UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir has said Ireland’s stunning win over the West Indies has given a further boost to their already surging confidence as they prepare to take on Zimbabwe in their opening match of the 2015 World Cup.
A win would be a fantastic gift from the team for Tauqir, who turns 43 on Saturday, and is the second oldest player in the tournament after his compatriot Khurram Khan.
“We were at the ground watching the match that day. I think what Ireland did makes every associate country proud. Having a result like that, obviously, is what we are also trying to do,” said Tauqir.
“I think it was a great win for Ireland, and I think you can see that most of the associate nations are doing well. Now it is our chance and we too would like to prove a point.
“I thought their batting was terrific, and that is something that is our strength as well. Whenever we see it’s 300-plus run score, we know it’s a good ground, a good batting wicket. I think we are also expecting to make 300-plus.
“We had a couple of games in New Zealand, and then the two warm‑up games in Australia, and if I look back, except for the match against Australia, we have scored around 300 runs in all the other matches. So, yes, our batting is looking good.”
But Tauqir and his teammates are also aware that Zimbabwe cannot be taken lightly, especially after the way they ran South Africa close in their opening match of the tournament.
“We respect Zimbabwe. It’s a good side and you can see how they fought so hard against South Africa. If we bowl first, we will try to restrict them for as low a score as possible,” he added.
Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura echoed almost similar sentiments ahead of the match.
“The match against South Africa, it was a bit of both in the end – it hurt that we did everything right for almost 90 overs, but we could not do it in the 10 overs that made the difference, but we were also proud of the way we played our cricket,” said the 28 year old.
“I think we are almost there, but we need to polish a few things here and there, and that is the aim against the UAE. But as we do against any cricket-playing nation, we are taking them very seriously. We may not know much about their players barring a couple, which means we will have to stick to the basics and do those things well.”
The match starts 2am Thursday morning.
