Ahmed Raza
Ahmed Raza

The 2019 World Cup is still a year away. However, the ICC World Cup Qualifiers are slated to start in just over two weeks time. Two times World Champions and the defending T20 Champions, Windies will also be part of the tournament.

UAE bowler Ahmed Raza meanwhile is dreaming of taking the wicket of Chris Gayle when UAE takes on Windies.

The UAE has been grouped with Windies, Ireland, Netherlands and Papua New Guinea. UAE will meet Windies in Harare on 6th March. Raza is part of the UAE squad as they booked their place for the competition. The Associate nation finished in the top two in the World Cricket Division two in Namibia last week.

He further added it would be a great opportunity to lock horns with some quality sides. While he said he wouldn’t be targeting any batsman, in particular, he feels it will be an honour to bag the wicket of Chris Gayle.

“Yes definitely (it would be),” said Raza. “He will be the prized wicket because we all know how destructive he can be. It would be nice to get him out early because once he gets going, he will be hard to contain. He will be our prized wicket, and he can really leave a big mark if we can’t get him out early.

UAE's Ahmed Raza Dreams of Getting Chris Gayle's Wicket in ICC World Cup Qualifiers

“But to be honest, I’m not targeting anyone. I just have to go out there and do my job. If I do that well, I’m sure I’ll pick up wickets. If I contain from one end, I’m sure my bowling partner at the other end will pick up some wickets. I’ll do what I do best, and that is to contain runs and take wickets.”

Raza Recalls his first encounter against the Windies

Raza bagged a couple of wickets against the Windies when they met in a T20I practice match in Dubai in 2016.

”If I can get another three wickets it would be great,” he added. “That was a really good day for me, and if I can get anything close to that, then it would be great. That means that I’ll also be picking up wickets in the middle order which if the team is building at that time, you can dent their chances of scoring. It would be nice if I get some wickets against them in Zimbabwe.”

Last week UAE’s hopes of playing against Windies were almost shattered after consecutive losses to Nepal and Canada. However, they bounced back strongly to win against Oman, Namibia and Nepal in the final. Raza stated it was the character of the team which helped them to make a turnaround.

“It’s a test of character of how you come back from losses,” he said. “In a global event, you have to put the losses behind and look forward and try and win the next game, and that’s what we did,” he concluded.

Chris Gayle Kings XI Punjab IPL 2018
Chris Gayle has been bought by Kings XI Punjab for two crores. Image Courtesy: Getty Images

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