UAE excited to play against superstars Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah: Alishan Sharafu

India are set to begin their Asia Cup 2025 campaign against UAE on September 10. The Indian team has faced UAE only once in the T20I format, which came way back in the Asia Cup 2016. It is nearly a decade later that the rivalry resumes with Suryakumar Yadav and Muhammad Waseem as the captains of the two sides.

Given it is not that UAE get to play a top-tier team like India every day, their opener Alishan Sharafu has said that the entire unit is excited to play a team filled with superstars. India have carried their A-team to the Asia Cup as they treat this tournament as the dress rehearsal for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026.

"I think they are all quality players. If we have to take some names, like I said, Jasprit Bumrah or someone like Hardik Pandya. These guys are match-winners and they can change the game on their own. I'm quite excited to go out there and have that experience of playing against them. Hopefully, we can give them a tough time," Sharafu said ahead of their match against India.

Catch all details of Asia Cup 2025: Here

UAE recently played against Pakistan and Afghanistan in the tri-series where they did not win a single game. In their final match of the tournament, they came really close to beating the Afghan side but ended up losing the match by only 4 runs.

Despite the losses, Sharafu said that the team was confident in its abilities and could spring a surprise against Suryakumar Yadav's side.

"I think the boys are in a good space. Obviously, just finishing the tri-series against Afghanistan-Pakistan. We played against some good teams and we've had some quite close games. So, just coming from there and just having our camp, which has been going on for the last month. So, the boys are in a good space and looking for a good result," he added.

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The opener regarded India as one of the best sides in the world and said the UAE team simply wanted to focus on their basics.

"India is one of the best sides in the world. I think we just don't want to play against the names. We just want to play to the merit of the ball and just go out there and play some strong shots in terms of batting. We just want to focus on the basics and just back our strengths," he concluded.

The UAE are participating in the tournament for the first time since 2016. They boast of some good talent, including captain Muhammad Waseem, power-hitter Asif Khan, among others.

UAE squad for Asia Cup

Muhammad Waseem (c), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wk), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D'Souza, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Matiullah Khan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Rohid Khan, Simranjeet Singh and Saghir Khan.