T20 World Cup 2026: Underdog UAE looks to upset New Zealand’s winning momentum

Group D, the group of death, will come alive once again when traditional heavyweight and tournament favourite New Zealand takes on UAE at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai tomorrow.

In the opening fixture, New Zealand registered its highest successful chase in T20 World Cup history in its victory over Afghanistan and will be keen to take on the momentum against the associate nation too. The rising UAE, which has been a threat to the ICC full member nations in the recent fixtures, will be looking to make a statement in its opening fixture of the campaign.

NZ spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi will be a threat to the opponent in the spin-friendly Chepauk tracks. Opener Tim Seifert, who played a match-winning knock against Afghanistan, looked confident in facing both the new ball in the Powerplay and the turning older ball in the middle overs. He will look to repeat what he did at the same venue last time.

UAE, which is looking to make a mark on the big stage, cannot be overlooked. Despite just one win in six games in T20 World Cups, the UAE players will look to replicate their ILT20 experience and show they can keep up with the fast momentum of the game.

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Muhammad Waseem, the UAE skipper, is a serial six-hitter, and along with Alishan Sharafu can be a threat to the opponent. Waseem has struck 190 sixes in his 93 T20I innings and is just 16 hits away from going past Rohit Sharma’s all-time T20I record. Also in the UAE’s arsenal are Haider Ali, the left-arm spinner, who can square up batters with his accuracy, and pacer Junaid Siddique can be accurate in yorkers when needed.

Rachin Ravindra, who fell for a golden duck in the opening game, will be looking forward to making amends with the bat while also contributing some left-arm spin if the pitch offers assistance.

On Tuesday, New Zealand will look for a big win to aid its pursuit of the Super Eight stage. UAE will try to remind it of the upset win in the second game of the home bilateral series in 2023, when the underdog triumphed by seven wickets .

Published on Feb 09, 2026