PERTH — India's in-form seamer Mohammad Shami will miss Saturday's World Cup clash against the United Arab Emirates here due to a knee injury, a media release from the team said. Shami has a mild left knee problem, the release said, adding that he was given a “an ultrasound guided injection” and asked to rest for the Pool B match. The release did not say if the 24-year-old will be available for the next game against the West Indies in Perth on March 6. The right-arm seamer has been India's most successful bowler in the tournament with figures of four for 35 against Pakistan and two for 30 against South Africa. Seamer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar or all-rounder Stuart Binny may replace Shami for the UAE match. After high-profile wins over Pakistan and one of the tournament favorites, South Africa, India's biggest concern against the second-tier side UAE could be complacency. The Indian lineup will be also without coach Duncan Fletcher, who is in South Africa to attend a family funeral. But the Indians will be heavily favored against a UAE team that has lost both its matches — albeit closely — to Zimbabwe and Ireland. India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 137 runs in the South Africa win, said the team will miss Fletcher's presence, “but we'll do the same routine, and just go out and play our game.” He admitted the team was buoyed by the large percentage of Indian fans among the 86,000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the South Africa match. A similar partisan crowd is expected at the WACA Saturday in a city where Indian expatriates make up the third-highest number of foreign-born citizens after New Zealanders and South Africans. “It gives us a great feeling that fans follow us, and give us so much importance,” Dhawan said. “It gives us that extra edge.” Dhawan, who has a home in Melbourne where he lives with his British-Indian wife and three children, said Australia was one of the best places to play cricket. “Australia is a beautiful country, but I hardly get time to spend time with my family here,” he said. India has shown a major form reversal in both its wins — by 76 runs over Pakistan and a massive 130 runs over the South Africa — after losing a Test series to Australia and also failing to win a match in a one-day tri-series with Australia and England. That was three months in Australia without a victory in a competitive match. India captain Mahendra Singh Dohni said the World Cup was the team's focus all along, which is why it won't be taking the UAE lightly. “We wanted to give players more opportunities in the tri series to some extent,” Dhoni said. “There were quite a few players who were injured, also, and we kept the intensity a bit low. But at the same time we knew with the World Cup right at the corner, this tournament was much more important to us.” UAE captain Mohammed Tauqir, at 43 the oldest player to captain a team at the World Cup, sounded like the veteran he is when he said his squad wouldn't be over-awed by the Indian side. “We know they are big stars, but we will take this game with the same intensity as the others. We are not intimidated by the names,” Tauqir said. “There was improvement in our performance in each game and we need to get over the line now with a win.” Tauqir's lineup lost to Zimbabwe by four wickets, with the winners needing 48 overs to surpass the UAE's 285-7. Ireland only exceeded the UAE's 278-9 with four balls to spare. “The Zimbabwe game was close, the Ireland game even closer,” Tauqir said. “We know we are playing well, mentally everyone is very, very calm, and we are not getting emotional by the situation.” Tauqir admitted there were “four or five” run-out chances it missed in its two matches, mildly rebuking a journalist who thought it was higher. “We have been working very hard on all our cricket, especially on our fielding,” he said. “I would not say 15, maybe four or five chances. It's a direct throw that is needed. Overall, we've had a satisfactory effort in the past few games.” — Agencies
