Pakistan-born offspinning allrounder Rohan Mustafa moved to Sharjah when he was ten and enrolled in that emirate's cricket academy. Despite losing his father, one of his cricket mentors, five years later, he stuck with the game, and was picked for UAE Under-19s in 2007, the year he also made his List A debut.

His senior international debut came against Scotland in an ODI World Cup Qualifier game seven years after that. Later that year he faced a setback when he was barred from the UAE for a year for "absconding from duty" but Mustafa made it back in time to be picked for the 2015 World Cup squad - though he had a forgettable outing.

Unarguably his finest moment was in an ODI against Papua New Guinea at home in 2017, when he made 109 opening the batting and then took 5 for 25 in a big win, becoming only the third player to make a hundred and take five wickets in an ODI, after Viv Richards and Paul Collingwood. Mustafa took a shine to PNG's bowlers, making 95 against them in an ODI in Harare the following year, and 88 in 2022; that last innings, though, was a one-man show and UAE lost.