UAE were faced with a tough opener against a side that has won two back-to-back series against Zimbabwe in the shorter formats © ICC/Donald MacLeod
Amjad Javed won the toss as United Arab Emirates opted to bat in their Asia Cup T20 qualifier opener against Afghanistan on a flat Fatullah track on Friday.
UAE are thin on experience, with as many as eight players in their starting XI having played less than 10 T20 internationals.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, left out Samiullah Shenwari and Noor Ali Zadran, while Shapoor Zadran, the left-arm pacer, earned a recall after missing the two series against Zimbabwe.
Afghanistan, Oman, Hong Kong and UAE will play a single round-robin stage where each team plays three matches. The top team will advance to the main event starting on February 23. In case two teams finish with the same points total, their net run rates will be used as tiebreaker.
Teams:
United Arab Emirates: Rohan Mustafa, Muhammad Kaleem, Amjad Javed (capt), Usman Mushtaq, Farhan Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Swapnil Patil (wk), Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Usman, Ahmed Raza, Mohammad Naveed
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi, Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Usman Ghani, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Amir Hamza, Rashid Khan, Karim Sadiq
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo