Yasin Mughal

As the home team and arguably the most ambitious team, Kuwait have a lot going for them. Plus they have a genuinely strong batting line-up. Khalid Butt, Nadeem Malik and Saud Iqbal at the top of the order all have the ability to inflict some serious damage on any bowlers. Local coach Tahir Khan says that "300 is possible for this team, they have the batsmen."

What Kuwait don't have however, is the bowling to back up the batsmen and like all the teams in the Gulf, they don't have the fielding. When so few hours of practice are available a week, usually late at night, fielding is the one discipline that suffers.

They have the oldest player in the tournament in slow left-armer Haji Javed at 45, a player whose fitness levels remain very high. Apart from wicket-keeper Mohammad Rashid (21) the rest of the squad are all seasoned campaigners. What Kuwait's players do have is familiarity with playing on turf, being the only Gulf country outside the UAE to have grass wickets. It could be a critical advantage.

Much rests on Kuwait's batsmen but given enough to work with, their slow-bowlers just may ultimately dictate the course of each match.

ACC Twenty20 squad

Filed October 25 2007