New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) Veteran UAE fast bowler Junaid Siddique said his strategy of bowling hard lengths and relying heavily on slower deliveries paid dividends as he claimed a maiden five-wicket haul to help his side defeat Canada by five wickets at the Men’s T20 World Cup on Friday.

Siddique’s 5-35 is now the best bowling figures by an associate nations player at the ongoing tournament, as UAE restricted Canada to 150/7 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium before chasing down the target with two balls to spare.

“My plan was to bowl at hard length and maximum slower ball back-to-back. Initially, I didn’t want to bowl slow. When I came to bowl into the wicket, I was getting a good slower ball by bowling into the pitch. So, I worked on that,” Siddique said, while replying to a query from IANS in the mixed zone held after the match.

Siddique, 33, struck early to dismiss Dilpreet Bajwa in the second over before removing Yuvraj Samra in his next spell. He then returned late in the innings to claim three more scalps, including half-centurion Harsh Thaker, wicketkeeper Shreyas Movva, and senior all-rounder Saad Bin Zafar.

Siddique knelt in a sajda at the Arun Jaitley Stadium after taking his fifth wicket on the penultimate ball of the innings. It was a moment of personal redemption for Siddique, who became a cult figure at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia for hitting the tournament’s biggest six.

His performance proved crucial after the UAE had been hammered by 10 wickets in their tournament opener against New Zealand, where Siddique conceded 47 runs. Despite Siddique’s heroics, victory was far from assured. UAE slumped to 68-4 in the 13th over, before Aryansh Sharma’s 74 not out and Sohaib Khan’s 51 took them home with two balls to spare.

“When we got the target of 150, it looked easy. But we got stuck in the middle. After that, Shoaib and Aryansh finished the match very well. When we bowled the first time, we were getting a little help,” he said.

Siddique’s journey to international cricket exemplifies the unconventional paths many associate with national players navigating. Selected for Pakistan’s Under-19 squad against South Africa in 2010 but failing to make the final 15, he struggled to secure opportunities in domestic cricket before relocating to the UAE.

“In 2010, I was selected for the Pakistan U-19 team and was playing against South Africa, but I didn’t get in the main squad of 15 (for the World Cup). After that, I was trying to play first-class cricket and do other things, but I didn’t get any chance from there,” he said.

“So I moved to the UAE in 2014 to get a job and help my family. I just went there and saw that some people were very crazy about cricket. So, I joined the cricketing ecosystem there. I was looking for a job in the UAE, but I found cricket.”

The highlight of his five-wicket haul was the dismissal of Thaker, who was deceived by Siddique’s slower delivery after appearing set to guide Canada to a competitive total. “When I hold the ball in my hand, I just want to go for wickets, and I enjoy my bowling. Just when you’re enjoying your bowling, and you’re going to do your best for the team – that’s the only thing I want to say,” he concluded.

–IANS

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