Afghanistan cricket, mohammad nabi
Mohammad Nabi of AfghanistanReuters

Two rising forces in world cricket -- the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan -- are facing each other in Desert T20 tournament at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on Monday (January 16).

Full schedule of the tournament.

Both sides are on top of the charts from Group A after recording wins in their previous matches of the competition.

While Afghanistan won by five wickets against Ireland in their first game of the tournament, the UAE won by six wickets against Namibia -- who do not yet have T20I status. It is owing to Papua New Guinea's declining the offer to participate in the event that the African nation came aboard. 

In terms of run rate, Afghanistan are on top of Group A ahead of the UAE.

The competition sees the ICC-associated teams with T20I status compete in a round-robin and knock-out format.

Squads list

Afghanistan: Asghar Stanikzai(c), Amir Hamza, Dawlat Zadran, Fareed Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad, Najeeb Tarakai, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen-ul-Haq, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shenwari.

Coach: Lalchand Rajput

UAE: Amjad Javed(c), Adnan Mufti, Ahmed Raza, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Shahzad, Muhammad Usman, Mohammed Qasim, Muhammed Shanil, Rameez Shahzad, Rohan Mustafa, Shaiman Anwar, Zahoor Farooqi.

Coach: Aaqib Javed

Schedule of match

Date: January 16

Time: 8:30 pm IST (7 pm local time, 3 pm GMT)

Where to watch live

TV: Sky Sports (UK)

Live streaming: Sky Sports Live (UK) 

Live score: Official Twitter.