No pain no gain for Mohammad Naveed

After the first day of matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 in Zimbabwe, Mohammad Naveed is on top of the bowling charts with the tournament’s first five-wicket haul.

He picked up 5/28 in UAE’s 56-run DLS method win against Papua New Guinea on 4 March, getting his side off to a winning start. What made his feat more special was that he battled an injured hand for it.

“It’s a fantastic feeling!” said an ecstatic Naveed after the match. His hand hurt while playing, he admitted. “But when we won, the feeling was good! It didn’t pain anymore,” he joked.

Naveed credited his senior Shaiman Anwer and captain Rohan Mustafa for backing his wicket-to-wicket bowling.

“We played against PNG quite a few times in UAE,” said Mustafa after the match, explaining his strategy in bowling Naveed. “They stay on the back foot. Besides, he (Naveed) bowled well against West Indies (in the warm-up) as he took two wickets of (Chris) Gayle and (Evin) Lewis. As it was swinging, it was quite difficult to play him. I’d give credit to him because he was quite injured, he had three stitches on his hand.”

Next up for UAE is a tough test against Windies on Tuesday, 6 March, but Mustafa is convinced the pressure is on the higher-ranked side.

As in recent games, the onus was on the openers, including him, to get the team off to a good start, he said. Then, it was important to get to 40 overs, so they could hit out.

“We gave away wickets against West Indies, when we were chasing 115. We went for reckless shots. I think we made a few mistakes again today, only 10 or 12 runs in last five overs, so we will not go for shots and rotate strike,” he said.

Naveed, though, who has been enjoying the conditions, had less elaborate a plan: “The plan is very simple,” he said. “Play and enjoy!”