T20 World Cup: UAE opt to bat against Namibia

GEELONG [AUSTRALIA]: UAE captain CP Rizwan opted to bat first after winning the toss against Namibia in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Simonds Stadium on Thursday.

Namibia will go in with a do-or-die attitude since a win will ensure they make it through to the Super-12 stage, joining Sri Lanka from their group. The Netherlands will be rooting for UAE to win as the Dutch team's net run rate is inferior compared to Namibia and they will be knocked out if Namibia win.

"This time we will be batting. The ball does a bit later on, so that's why we'll be batting. Three changes for us today. We expect to put a good total on the board, and with the bowling unit we could defend it," said Rizwan after winning the toss.

"I think the toss doesn't have a big impact in the evening. One change for us, the speedster Ruben Trumpelmann is back. We rocked up to this World Cup thinking we could win two games, that's what we'll try and achieve today to go forward," said Gerhard Erasmus during the toss.

United Arab Emirates (Playing XI): Muhammad Waseem, Vriitya Aravind (w), Chundangapoyil Rizwan (c), Alishan Sharafu, Aayan Afzal Khan, Basil Hameed, Karthik Meiyappan, Fahad Nawaz, Ahmed Raza, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan

Namibia (Playing XI): Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (c), Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit, David Wiese, Zane Green (w), Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo.