3 min readFeb 9, 2026 07:49 PM IST
First published on: Feb 9, 2026 at 07:48 PM IST
Eight of UAE’s World Cup squad were either born in Pakistan or have Pakistani roots; eight others are from India or have Indian heritage. In the backroom is the veteran India coach Lalchand Rajput; his deputy is former Pakistan all-rounder Yasir Arafat. The cross-border friction that has escalated to Pakistan deciding to boycott the group game against India, as of now, has not filtered into UAE’s dressing room.
Their captain, Muhammad Waseem, says they live in perfect harmony. “In this team, there is no India or Pakistan (divide). We are all representing the UAE, and we are proud of it. We play together, we eat together, and we spent a lot of time together. There is nothing like India or Pakistan in our time,” he said, a day before their game against New Zealand. “We have come prepared and will look to win a few games,” he said.
Since the Asia Cup last September, cricketing ties between the two South Asian powerhouses has been frayed. In the tournament, India captain Suryakumar Yadav refused to shake hands with Pakistan counterpart Salman Agha in all three games. India, after beating Pakistan in the final, refused to accept the trophy as the ceremony included shaking hands with Asian Cricket Council chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is from Pakistan. Naqvi is also Pakistan’s interior minister. Heightened drama, including a potential pull out threat by Pakistan, preluded and followed the tournament. Waseem was asked the question in the Asia Cup. “No, we are not talking about that (Indo-Pak tensions) as we play a lot of cricket together. We are like a family here. There is no Indian and no Pakistani. We play for the UAE team. We play as a family and live as a family,” Waseem said.
The storm kicked up again, when Bangladesh decided to boycott the World Cup, indignant at the Mustafizur Rahman issue. The PCB soon sprung behind Bangladesh and informed the ICC that they would not meet India in the group game in Colombo on February 15. Negotiations, though, are running to make PCB rethink their decision.
It is in this backdrop that the associate nations have landed in India, with a mixture of cricketers from both countries. Oman, Canada, the USA and the Netherlands have immigrants from Pakistan and India in their squads. Apart from Canada and the Netherlands, where most of them hold dual citizenship or that of the adopted country, in the Middle East, they still hold the passport of their country of origin.
L-R: UAE cricket team for the T20 World Cup and their captain Muhammad Waseem. (PHOTO: Emirates Cricket/X & ICC) 
Share
