DUBAI: United Arab Emirates captain Muham­med Waseem expects his team to make their mark at the Twenty20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year after they claimed the last qualifying spot for the showpiece tournament.

Their eight-wicket victory against Japan in Al Amarat on Thursday guaranteed UAE a top-three finish at the Asia/East Asia-Pacific qualifier. They join Nepal and Oman as the last three teams to secure spots at the event.

“It’s very proud moment for us as a team, and I’m very happy with the performance of the team,” Was­e­em said in a video posted by the International Cric­ket Council (ICC). “We played like a champion team here. I have belief in my team that they will do better in the upcoming gam­es and in the World Cup. I’m pretty sure we’ll produce some excellent per­f­o­rmance in the World Cup.”

The win put an end to the qualifying hopes of Japan, Samoa and Qatar.

Former champions Engl­and and Australia have qua­l­ified automatically alongside five other teams who finished in the top seven at the 2024 World Cup.

With the United States also booking their ticket courtesy of a top-seven finish at the 2024 edition, which they co-hosted with the West Indies, Canada grabbed the lone Americas qualifying spot for the 20-team tournament.

Italy and the Netherlands qualified from Europe, while Namibia and Zimbabwe secured the two spots from the eight-team Africa qualifier.

The ICC is yet to announce the schedule but the tournament is likely to be held in February-March, with India the defending champions.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2025