The last time the UAE played at a T20 World Cup, two names that have become increasingly synonymous with each other combined to help them to just their second win ever on the global stage.
Precisely how they managed it was unlikely. Muhammad Waseem, in the unprecedented role of part-time death-overs specialist, sent down the third-last ball of the match to David Wiese, Namibia’s giant all-rounder.
Wiese connected with it well enough get it to the boundary rope. But there, back-pedalling, was a teenage Alishan Sharafu, who took the catch that swung the game decisively in the UAE’s favour.
Waseem and Sharafu have become the two established match-winners for the national team in the side since. But as batters, rather than bowlers and fielders.
Since that game in Geelong, they have forged a partnership which is now the bedrock of the national team. If the UAE are to make a mark at the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February, it will likely be built around those two.
“I enjoy batting with him a lot,” Sharafu said of his alliance with his captain. “When you bat with him, there is no pressure of how many runs are on the board or anything like that.
“I think we complement each other really well, especially using the powerplay. That is our main focus.
“On the day, if we are both feeling it, we just go for it. We try to use the powerplay as much as we can, then once we get out of it, we switch roles and see who bats a bit deeper and who keeps going in the same gear.
“I think we have started to understand our roles better, in terms of, if we lose an early wicket, one of us bats through. Small things like that.
“I enjoy batting with him and hopefully we can make some good memories like that in the World Cup as well.”
That game against Namibia at the 2022 T20 World Cup was just the seventh of Sharafu’s T20 international career to that point. Till then, he had no settled role, had been ushered up and down the batting order, and had a top score of just 12.
His coolness under the pressure of that catch off Wiese, though, showed he had the temperament for the big stage.
The advances he has made in recent times show how well placed the faith in his ability was, despite the meagre pickings at the start of his international career.
Sharafu, who is now 22, has made five half centuries in his past 11 T20I innings. That includes 68 against Pakistan, 51 against Oman in the Asia Cup, and 86 and 46 in the two matches the UAE needed to win to make it to India and Sri Lanka, via the qualifying tournament in Muscat.
That haul shows Sharafu is starting to stand up when it matters most.
“I was relatively young at that time and still evolving as a player,” Sharafu said of his one previous experience of a senior World Cup, in Australia three years ago.
“And I still am, but I feel like I am in a better space right now. I have started to understand my game and have a little more clarity in my role right now. I am glad and fortunate I am batting the way I am right now.
“I am just looking to get better from here. I have been putting in the work and have been trying to fix mistakes, and try to keep it as simple as I can.
“I am backing my strengths, slowly working on my weaknesses, and that is the goal for now. In the coming months leading up to the World Cup, that will stay the same.”
The UAE’s next assignment is a one-day international tri-series involving the United States and Nepal in Dubai this month.
The national team were frustrated observers when both those sides played at the last T20 World Cup, in the US and the Caribbean, last year.
The USA caused a shock by making it through to the second round, at Pakistan’s expense, in that tournament. Sharafu is hoping the UAE can cause a stir like that when they play at the 2026 event.
“Having been to the World Cup in Australia, it was surreal – probably one of the best times of my life,” Sharafu said.
“Having a whole month there, with the atmosphere and the opposition, and the quality of the cricket, it is the highest level of cricket you can dream to play.
“I am super excited again. Last time we missed out on a place in the next round just by one game. Hopefully this time around we can have a couple of good results in the league round and then find ourselves in the Super Eight.”
