UAE's Mohammad Naveed Eyeing David Warner's Wicket At The Global T20 Canada Tournament

Mohammad Naveed, the UAE fast-bowler, is eyeing some big scalps and ambitious target ahead of the upcoming Global T20 Canada Tournament. The 31-year old, on Saturday (June 23), said he is looking to end the tournament as the leading wicket-taker in addition to dismissing David Warner.

The 31-year old will share the dressing room with the likes of Darren Sammy and Steve Smith for Toronto Nationals. The inaugural edition of the league will kickstart on June 28. The 22-game competition will run till July 15. All the games will br played at Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, Ontario.

The wait is over!!!! Here is #GT20Canada 2018 schedule. #SixesInThe6ix @canadiancricket pic.twitter.com/HgakootjCf

— GT20 Canada (@GT20Canada) June 13, 2018

Toronto will take on Vancouver in the first game of the tournament.

Some of the most sought after bowlers will feature in the tournament. The likes of Tim Southee, Lasith Malinga, Sunil Narine and Sandeep Lamichhane are all on the list but Naveed is hopeful of doing well.

“The target that I want to achieve is to win the best bowler award in the tournament,” said Naveed. “Today that is what I want. Of course it will be very difficult but I have great confidence that I can do well in Canada over a series of matches.”

Naveed is one of the four UAE players picked in the league. He along with UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa will play for Toronto. On the other hand, Shaiman Anwar and Ahmed Raza will play for Edmonton Royals.

Naveed has established himself as one of the best bowlers in Associate cricket. In the last six months, he has accounted for  Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle. And he is now looking to make his list impressive by dismissing Warner.

“I have got the wicket of Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle before so my target now is to get David Warner,” he said. “He is a fantastic players and he is one of the best batsmen in the world. He’s a very aggressive player and those type of batsmen I enjoy taking wickets.”

The upcoming tournament will mark the return of Warner to competitive cricket. Warner along with Smith and Cameron Bancroft has not played since the ball-tampering scandal in the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town in March.

In the aftermath of the scandal, Cricket Australia (CA) had slapped lengthy bans on the trio. While Smith and Warner received one-year ban each, Bancroft received a nine-month suspension.

But despite Warner’s involvement in the scandal, Naveed said he would have no issue shaking the hand of the Australia batsman when the teams meet in Canada.

“For me, it’s no issue because he’s one of the best batsmen. He did a mistake and he’s accepted that. Now he is moving on from that chapter,” he said.