Canada’s skipper, Dilpreet Bajwa, called right at the toss in Delhi on Friday morning and – without hesitation – chose to bat in the men’s T20 World Cup fixture against the United Arab Emirates.
“We wanted to make first use of what looks a good deck,” Bajwa said on the host broadcaster. “If we post a solid total, the bowlers can do the rest.” With that in mind, Canada resisted any temptation to tinker; the XI that lost to South Africa by 57 runs stays intact.
UAE captain Muhammad Waseem had few complaints about being asked to chase, pointing out that early-afternoon dew is rarely an issue in Delhi. “We’ve got two fresh bowlers who can hit the pitch hard,” he remarked. Those two are seamer Muhammad Farooq and left-armer Muhammad Jawadullah, replacing Dhruv Parashar and Muhammad Rohid. The batting order is unchanged, Aryansh Sharma continuing behind the stumps.
Neither side has yet registered a point – New Zealand brushed UAE aside by ten wickets, while Canada’s bowlers leaked 194 against a rampant South Africa – so the contest already carries a knock-out feel. Former UAE coach Aaqib Javed, speaking on local radio, suggested 165 could be “par, maybe a touch under” on a surface that tends to slow up. Canada’s vice-captain Harsh Thaker sounded similarly pragmatic: “Anything above 160 keeps us in the game; below that, it’s fifty-fifty.”
Teams
Canada: Dilpreet Bajwa (capt), Yuvraj Samra, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Harsh Thaker, Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskaran Singh, Dilon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Ansh Patel.
UAE: Aryansh Sharma (wk), Muhammad Waseem (capt), Alishan Sharafu, Harshit Kaushik, Mayank Kumar, Sohaib Khan, Muhammad Arfan, Muhammad Farooq, Haider Ali, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Jawadullah.
First ball is scheduled for 14:00 local time.
