Given that Oman Cricket Academy Oval 2 is the ultimate batsman’s paradise, Mohammed Farooq might have been forgiven for ruing his luck when he was picked to debut there.
After years of trying, the 31-year-old leg spinner was finally handed his UAE cap for the first time on Friday when he was picked to play against Kuwait in the ACC Premier Cup.
It meant he had the privilege of bowling his leg breaks on one of the flattest wickets in the world, while defending short boundaries, with a rapid outfield.
To emphasise the point, a day later the national team posted their highest ever score in T20 internationals, as they amassed a whopping 236 for six against Bahrain. Of the UAE’s seven highest scores ever in the format, six have come at the venue.
And yet Farooq was never likely to baulk at the challenge. His journey to get here has been such a circuitous one, and shows he thrives on adversity.
He initially showed promise for the sport in his native Pakistan as a wicketkeeper-batter. He played for Mohmand, his district in the tribal areas of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, at Under 19 and Grade 2 level.
He also represented Peshawar University for four years, as well as playing for Higher Education Commission – the Pakistan universities team – in first-class cricket.
At one point he was tasked with giving throw downs to his colleague, the Pakistan star Iftikhar Ahmed, but he asked his mate if he would mind him trying something a bit different. It was a moment of revelation.
“One day we were going to tour Abbottabad and I was giving practice to Iftikhar,” Farooq said. “I told him instead of throw downs I’d bowl leg spin to give him that kind of practice.
“He said, OK. Then when I started bowling it worked well. He said, ‘Now you can start your journey as a leg-spinner.’
“From that day on I was focused on leg spin. But it is a difficult art. It has taken me eight or nine years to master it and there is still loads of room for improvement. I am still working on it. That is the journey I am on with the UAE.”
UAE defeat Kuwait in ACC Premier Cup opener
Farooq first moved to the UAE from Pakistan in 2017 to take up a job as a data entry assistant. He took a break from the workplace to focus on cricket before becoming a facilities supervisor for Gems Education at various schools in Dubai.
“When I had duty hours if I had any free time I would do my training,” he said. “I didn’t have an opportunity to bowl but at that time I was playing for Gems Education.
“On weekends I would have a shift for 11 or 12 hours so couldn’t play but when I had the chance I would do fitness training.”
All the while he was pursuing higher honours in cricket, and earned recognition of sorts when he was picked up by Team Abu Dhabi for the T10 league.
If you work hard and have belief in yourself, everyone will get their chance
UAE bowler Mohammed Farooq
Now working for Smart Cube Real Estate and playing for the staff cricket team, he has finally broken into the national team after years on the fringes.
For the 10-team tournament in Muscat, which has the prize of a place at next year’s Asia Cup for the winners, he was preferred to the other leg-spin options, Karthik Meiyappan and Zuhaib Zubair.
He is a decade older than each of those young talents, and he might have feared his time had passed given their emergence.
“If you work hard and have belief in yourself, everyone will get their chance,” Farooq said. “You have to wait and be patient, work hard, and Inshallah you will get your chance. If anyone has potential, self-belief and work hard, their chance will come.”
When his chance did finally come, Farooq betrayed the odd sign of nerves. He bowled two wides early in his spell against Kuwait, but – given the high-scoring nature of the ground – he has held his own so far.
In his two appearances to date, he has figures of one for 33 against Kuwait then two for 24 against Bahrain.
“These are very tough conditions for bowling and it is my debut series so I am facing some very hard challenges,” he said. “But back in UAE in our domestic structure we find these sorts of wickets too. It is good for me that I have the experience of bowling on pitches like this, as well as in franchise cricket. It has helped me a lot.”
Whatever happens next, he will always have a UAE cap. He says he was well aware of the prestige it confers, even before it was first presented to him by captain Muhammad Waseem.
“He told me it is a big privilege to play for a national team,” Farooq said. “It is something I have been dreaming of for the past 10 years, now finally I have achieved my cap so it was a dream come true situation.
“I have a WhatsApp group with my two brothers. I sent them a message first and also one to my fiancée.
“They were all happy for me. My fiancée is well educated on the game, she knows the rules and everything, but isn’t quite as into it as the rest of us.
“Everyone was happy, telling me my dream had come true and that it was a proud moment for me.”
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
MATCH INFO
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Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
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Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
The five pillars of Islam
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
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Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
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Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
