UAE: Team minus the players

It is bad enough losing your baggage and kit — as happens so often during cricket tours — but when it comes to half the side, questions are bound to be asked of flight booking officials and other administrative sorts. The United Arab Emirates ‘team’ arrived here yesterday for the Asia Cup minus half the team, though the baggage was in tact.

Part of the mix up occurred in Dubai when the team gathered at the airport in the morning. They found that the passenger schedule for the flight did not contain half of the 14 squad-members, the coach and the manager. And no matter how much the team management tried, coach Syed Abid Ali was left behind.