UAE women's cricket team head to Thailand

A confident UAE women’s team will be participating in the Asian Cricket Council Women’s Championship 2013 to be held in Thailand from January 23 to 31.

The winner of this tournament will proceed to ICC World Women’s Twenty20 Qualifier to be played in Ireland in August.

The team underwent rigorous training sessions under the watchful eyes of coach Kalpana Venkatachar at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

“We have a tough pool and we will be playing against some of the best sides,” said Kalpana.

“These teams train regularly unlike our girls who don’t get to play matches on a regular basis,” the former India player added.

UAE are placed in Group A along with Hong Kong, Nepal, Malaysia and Bhutan while the Group B consists of China, Thailand, Singapore, Kuwait, Iran and Qatar.

“But the girls are shaping well and are raring to go. Winning a couple of matches in this tournament will be a big plus for them,” she said.

UAE will open their campaign when they meet Hong Kong at the Royal Chiang Mai Golf Club grounds on January 23 and will play Nepal at the Chiang Mai Gymkhana grounds on January 25.

On January 28, UAE face Bhutan before finishing their last round group match the following day against Malaysia.

The semifinals and final will be on January 31.

“We have been having nearly four to five hours of training sessions everyday and we try to keep it different each day. The focus is on everything including fitness,” said coach Kalpana.

Emirates Cricket Board administrator, Mazhar Khan said: “It is heartening to see young girls coming forward to pick up the game seriously. We have talent and it needs to be nurtured.”

The team is led by experienced Charvi Ajay Bhatt  while Chaitrali Deepak Kalgutkar will be the vice-captain.
 
ECB women's squad

Charvi Ajay Bhatt (captain, Chaitrali Deepak Kalgutkar (vice-captain), Assah Khemani, Ayeesha Naushad Khan, Humiera Tasneem, Samiya Saleem, Kyna Vedhasingh, Petule Nadar, Veni Praveen, Hafza Faisal, Simrita Sandhu, Shivani Sathe, Dipanki Borcar, Bonfilia Pereira.
Kalpana Venkatachar (coach), Mohammed Hyder kazmi (Assistant coach), Manvi Dhodhi (manager)

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