UAE cricketers have been fighting for the chance to play in the big leagues for years.
Opportunities have been scarce to nonexistent. On the rare occasion chances have come along, often it has appeared just slightly beyond them. Either that, or it has led to seriously undesired consequences.
The first time a player from the Emirates made it to one of the franchise game’s top events was Zahoor Khan at the Pakistan Super League in 2021.
Covid had distorted the competition, first causing a delay, then decimating the existing squads when the tournament was played to its finish in Abu Dhabi.
Amid the social distancing and bio-bubbles, recruitment managers scoured the globe to see who was available, and who could make it to the UAE for the finale to the season.
A couple of very handy solutions were landed on within the country itself. Zahoor was one. He had represented the UAE national team with great distinction for years as a pace bowler with rare skills of deception.
Legend has it he even taught Jasprit Bumrah the slower ball which has since bewitched international cricketers the world over.
Then, when Zahoor finally got the chance to play in the franchise league of the country of his birth, his dream quickly became a nightmare.
He played one game for Quetta Gladiators, and was thrown the ball with the unenviable task of bowling to a set Tim David. He bowled one over for 23, was spirited straight back out of the attack, and was never seen again.
Later, Usman Khan was drafted first to Quetta Gladiators, and then Multan Sultans. He had played the majority of his cricket in Karachi, but left for what he thought would be a better life in Sharjah.
He was intent on playing for the UAE, and played back in the PSL as an overseas player. Only it all went a little too well.
So good was Usman as Multan won the PSL, he was offered the chance to play for Pakistan. The lure of representing the country of his birth was too great, and the UAE ended up losing a player who might have transformed the game here.
Given the collective tale of woe, it might be thought that UAE players and franchise cricket just aren’t meant to be. But then the 2026 PSL auction happened, and all of a sudden the landscape had changed again.
Karachi Kings, who are one of the biggest franchises in global T20 cricket, signed two UAE players – thus accounting for a third of their overseas player slots.
The first could scarcely have done more to deserve his chance. Muhammad Waseem has been one of the leading batters beyond international cricket’s mainstream for years, often featuring inside the top 10 batters in the ICC’s T20I rankings.
He, too, was drafted in for the 2021 PSL, only to miss out on any game time at all. More recently, he was recruited for Islamabad United, yet had to miss the whole campaign because it clashed with a low-key one-day international series for the UAE.
But when the chance came to reunite with Waseem, Haider Azhar, the Karachi Kings head of strategy and team director, who once filled a similar role with Multan, jumped at it.
“The last time I picked him, he couldn't get a single game,” Haider said. “But it’s a testament to how big of a character he became in the dressing room because everyone loved him.
“If you see all the trophy celebration pictures, pretty much all of them have Muhammad Waseem in. Everyone loved him.
“I was surprised that he really looked after some of the young kids there as well. These were really weird times during Covid, with people not knowing much about it.
“Waseem and I have been in touch ever since, and I've always then tried to see if I could manoeuvre and bring him in.”
That opportunity arose at the auction ahead of the 2026 PSL. Karachi swooped for Waseem for a cost of just over $39,000, and see him as a potential opening partner for David Warner, the Australian great.
“One thing I noticed during when I last met Waseem during the T10 is he is leaner, he's fitter, and the hunger is definitely still there,” Haider said.
“Sometimes these senior Associate players are accused of getting too comfortable, and not going beyond the comfort zone. But you can clearly see he still has a point to prove. So I'm very hopeful he comes good for us.”
The other UAE player in the Karachi ranks is Khuzaima Tanveer, a fast bowler who will only become eligible to play for the national team later this year.
Although his only notable cricket to date has come via a season and a half in the DP World International League T20, Khuzaima already has plenty of suitors.
Haider said Karachi have been tracking him ever since Mohammed Masroor, the franchise’s assistant coach, first brought him to their attention some years ago.
“We kept Khuzaima on our radar,” Haider said. “His performances in the ILT20 just vindicated the thought process we'd had for him over a period of time.
“He's not one of those guys who just got picked for his season in the ILT20 with [title winners] Desert Vipers.
“The only thing his season at the ILT20 did was to raise his price because Azhar Mahmood [the Vipers bowling coach] was sitting on the Peshawar Zalmi table [at the PSL auction].”
Haider said fans are often skeptical when players are signed from non-mainstream nations, but he is confident they have the qualities to shine.
“When they're picked from Associate nations, we've always got these questions,” Haider said.
“But we're one of those think tanks that look first at the player, and then we make a decision. Obviously if they were qualified as a local, it would have been much, much more convenient for us. But we don't particularly mind this.”
