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Rohan Mustafa (Urdu: روہن مصطفی; born 7 October 1988) is a Pakistani-born cricketer who has played for the United Arab Emirates national cricket team since 2007. He is a former national captain, and plays as a left-handed batsman and right-arm off-spin bowler.

Early life

Mustafa was born in Kohat, in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. When he was 10 his family moved to the UAE, where his father had a car sales business in Sharjah. He enrolled in the Sharjah Cricket Academy to pursue his career in cricket and his father provided him huge support to fulfill his cricketing ambitions. His father was also one of his cricketing mentors from a young age.

Mustafa's father died suddenly when he was 15. His family returned to Pakistan soon afterwards. He initially struggled to cope following his father's death and also endured difficulties to pursue his cricket career due to the financial constraints faced by the family. He was eventually picked for the UAE U-19 national team in 2007. His mother and sister currently live in Pakistan while his brother has relocated to Chile.

Franchise career

On 3 June 2018, Mustafa was selected to play for the Toronto Nationals in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Brampton Wolves franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament.

International career

He made his List A debut for the UAE against Oman on 30 November 2007 during the 2007 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament. He made his first-class debut on 12 March 2013 against Ireland at Sharjah at the 2011–2013 ICC Intercontinental Cup. He made his T20 debut against Ireland on 21 March 2013.

Mustafa made his One Day International debut against Scotland on 1 February 2014. One month later, on 17 March 2014, he also made his Twenty20 International debut against the Netherlands during the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. After the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, Mustafa was appointed vice-captain of the UAE.

In September 2014, he faced a major legal battle when a Dubai court banned him from entering the country for one year after being found guilty of absconding from duty. He was accused of playing for another corporation without any written permissions from his employers thereby breaching the contract.

He immediately returned to Pakistan but he won the court appeal and was able to overturn the court order as he was able to obtain the no objection certificate with the combined assistance from former UAE head coach Aqib Javed, Emirates Cricket Board and from his former employers. The appeal was successfully upheld in November 2014 and as a result he was back in contention for a spot in the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

At the 2016 Asia Cup Qualifier, Mustafa scored 77 runs from 50 balls in the first match against Afghanistan, opening the batting with Muhammad Kaleem. This set a new record for the highest score by a UAE player in a Twenty20 International. Mustafa also took three wickets in Afghanistan's innings, which is also record in international taking 3 wickets and 75+ runs in a same match with the UAE going on to win the match by 16 runs.

On 4 April 2017, Mustafa scored his maiden One Day International century, scoring 109 against Papua New Guinea. In the same match, he took his maiden five-wicket haul, taking 5/25. In doing so, he became only the third player to score a century and take a five-wicket haul in the same ODI after Viv Richards and Paul Collingwood.

In January 2018, he was named as the captain of the United Arab Emirates' squad for the 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament. He was included in Emirati squad for the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament. During a crucial super six match between UAE and Zimbabwe during the 2018 World Cup Qualifier, he and Sean Williams were reprimanded for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct and were handed one demerit point each.

In August 2018, he was named the captain of the United Arab Emirates' squad for the 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier tournament. In December 2018, he was named as the captain of the United Arab Emirates' team for the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup. Later the same month, he was one of three players to be given an eight-week ban from international cricket for breaching the Emirates Cricket Board's Player's Code of Conduct, after using Twitter to criticise the facilities in Karachi during the tournament. In January 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had accepted apologies from all the cricketers involved. In March 2019, he returned to the UAE's squad following his suspension for their series against the United States.

In September 2019, he was named in the United Arab Emirates' squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the UAE. Ahead of the tournament, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named him as the key player in the UAE's squad. He was the leading wicket-taker for the UAE in the tournament, with eleven dismissals in eight matches.

In December 2020, he was one of ten cricketers to be awarded with a year-long full-time contract by the Emirates Cricket Board. He became the first Emirati cricketer to be ranked inside the top ten ICC rankings in any format when he achieved his career best ranking of 7 in ICC T20I rankings for all-rounders in February 2022.

References

1. ^ "Rohan Mustafa". ESPNcricinfo.
2. "From Ahmed Raza to Zahoor Khan - 13 UAE players who would be great cover options during IPL 2020". The National. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
3. "The Home of CricketArchive". cricketarchive.com.
4. "UAE celebrate new captain and coach appointments with win over Hong Kong", The National, 26 January 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
5. "Family always comes first for UAE cricketer Rohan Mustafa", The National, 4 June 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
6. ^ Borkakoty, Rituraj. "Exclusive: UAE's Rohan Mustafa dedicates ICC top 10 ranking to his late father". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
7. "Global T20 Canada: Complete Squads". SportsKeeda. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
8. "Global T20 Canada League – Full Squads announced". CricTracker. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
9. "Global T20 draft streamed live". Canada Cricket Online. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
10. "Full Scorecard of Oman vs U.A.E. 2007/08 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
11. "Full Scorecard of Ireland vs U.A.E. 2011-2013/14 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
12. "Full Scorecard of U.A.E. vs Ireland Only T20 2012/13 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
13. "Full Scorecard of Scotland vs U.A.E. Final 2013/14 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
14. "Full Scorecard of U.A.E. vs Netherlands 4th Match, First Round Group B 2013/14 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
15. ESPNCricinfo (1 March 2015). "Unloved, underprepared: what did cricket expect?". The Daily Star. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
16. "Part-time lovers". Cricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
17. "Rohan Mustafa's dream of playing in World Cup for the UAE is revived". The National. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
18. "Rohan ready to raise the bar at World Cup". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
19. "Asia Cup - 1st Match, Qualifying Group". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
20. "Rohan Mustafa magic shocks Afghanistan". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
21. "Full Scorecard of U.A.E. vs P.N.G. 3rd ODI 2017 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
22. "Mustafa's rare feat seals series for UAE". ESPNcricinfo. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
23. "Six teams vying for the final two spots in ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
24. "Rohan and Williams found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct". www.icc-cricket.com. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
25. "Emirates Cricket Board officially announces team to represent the UAE in the Asia Cup Qualifiers 2018". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
26. "Emirates Cricket Board announce team that will represent the UAE in Asia Cricket's Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2018". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
27. "Three UAE players suspended for eight weeks from international cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
28. "UAE captain Rohan Mustafa among three players suspended for eight weeks by Emirates Cricket Board". The National. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
29. "UAE players slam Karachi ground conditions in Emerging Teams Cup". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
30. "PCB accepts UAE players' apologies". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
31. "Mohammed Naveed says UAE have 'four to six captains' as he retains armband for USA series". The National. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
32. "Emirates Cricket Board announces side to compete in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifiers 2019". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
33. "Team preview: United Arab Emirates". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
34. "ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier, 2019/20 - United Arab Emirates: Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
35. "Rameez Shahzad omitted from latest list of centrally contracted UAE cricketers". The National. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
36. "UAE allrounder Rohan Mustafa eyeing dream return to Australia". The National. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.

External links

• Rohan Mustafa at ESPNcricinfo
• Rohan Mustafa at CricketArchive (subscription required)

v t e United Arab Emirates squad – 2015 Cricket World Cup
2 Tauqir (c) 7 Patil (wk) 8 Nasir 11 Khurram 15 Guruge 27 Javed 36 Chandran 47 Saqlain (wk) 50 Shaiman 91 Berenger 77 Amjad (wk) 80 Mustafa 87 Naveed 55 Fahad 6 Shazad Coach: Aaqib Javed

• 1988 births
• Living people
• Emirati cricketers
• United Arab Emirates One Day International cricketers
• United Arab Emirates Twenty20 International cricketers
• Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
• Emirati cricket captains
• Pakistani emigrants to the United Arab Emirates
• Pakistani expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates