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UAE suffer setback, Muhammad Zohaib sent home ahead of T20 World Cup opener

Tuesday, 10-Feb-2026, 05:21 AM
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Ahead of their opening match at the T20I 2026, the UAE have sent back home batter Muhammad Zohaib for disciplinary reasons. Notably, UAE are scheduled to play their opening match of the tournament against New Zealand in Chennai on Tuesday. Zohaib’s departure removes an experienced option from the UAE batting line-up at a time when the team is already under pressure.

"Muhammad Zohaib has been sent back due to disciplinary issues. More details will be provided in due course. ECB will at this stage not make any further comment on the matter," the board said in a statement on February 9.

Although he featured in the warm-up matches. In the most recent warm-up game against Italy on Friday, Zohaib batted at No. 9, as UAE were dismissed for a depressing total of 81. Earlier, in a warm-up fixture against Nepal, Zohaib had been promoted to No. 3, where he scored 19 runs off 26 balls.

Meanwhile, UAE are playing their first T20 World Cup match since the 2022 edition. Talking about Zohaib, who made his UAE debut in May 2025, has played 16 T20Is, piling up 303 runs at an average of 20.2 with a strike rate of 103.76.

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