Esha Oza to guide UAE's fortunes in bid to qualify for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup

Record-setter Esha Oza will lead the UAE team in the Women’s T20 Quadrangular Abu Dhabi and ICC Women’s T20 Qualifier events that will be played in Abu Dhabi from next week.

The Quadrangular featuring the hosts UAE, Netherlands, Scotland and USA will be followed by the all-important 10-team Qualifier.

The squad includes 15 players.

The two Qualifier finalists will earn their spots in this year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup which will be staged in Bangladesh between September and October.

UAE are placed in Qualifier’s Group B and will play their opening match of the tournament against Ireland on 25 April at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. Netherlands, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe are the other sides in Group B.

In the preceding Quadrangular event, UAE play Netherlands on 16 April, USA on 17th and Scotland on the 19th.

Oza holds the record of the highest score by a UAE international in limited overs cricket and is also the fastest player to reach 1,000 T20I runs in WT20Is.

UAE squad for Quadrangular series and ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier: Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Avanee Sunil Patel, Heena Harish Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kavisha Kumari Egodage, Khushi Mohan Sharma, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Swarup Gokhale, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish and Vaishnave Mahesh.

Support staff: Subha Venkataraman (Team Manager), Ahmed Raza (Head Coach), Laxmi Devi (Physiotherapist), Paurush Singh (Strength and Conditioning Coach)

Schedule

ICC Women’s T20 Qualifier, Abu Dhabi

25 April – Ireland vs UAE, Zayed Cricket Stadium

27 April – UAE vs Zimbabwe, Tolerance Oval