Speaking with PakPassion.net, the Pakistan under 19s coach Sabih Azhar spoke of his high hopes for the next generation of Pakistani cricketers and identified some of the young talent that he feels may be names to look out for in future

By Saj Sadiq (18th December, 2011)

Rawalpindi coach Sabih Azhar will lead the Pakistan Under 19s squad to South Africa next month to take part in a Tri Series with the hosts and Zimbabwe. Once the tri series is complete, the Pakistan Under 19s will play 3 fifty over matches against South Africa.

The successful domestic coach who has developed a number of talented young cricketers at Rawalpindi was also in charge of the Pakistan team that recently won the SAARC Under 25s Twenty20 Cup in the Maldives, featuring the likes of Umar Amin, Awais Zia, Nasir Jamshed, Raza Hasan and Mohammad Talha.

Speaking with PakPassion.net, Azhar spoke of his high hopes for the next generation of Pakistani cricketers and identified some of the young talent that he feels may be names to look out for in future.

"The Under 19 domestic circuit has been very competitive this time around and I have seen a number of youngsters who I feel have the potential to play for Pakistan in future. This of course depends on their willingness to learn, to work hard and to develop their cricket. Sometimes cricketers at junior level look the part but don't always develop at the rate of others."

Azhar feels that the tour of South Africa is ideal preparation for the Under 19 World Cup which is due to be played in Australia in August.

"The tour of South Africa should serve as ideal preparation for the Pakistan Under 19s, especially playing in unfamiliar conditions and potentially on types of wickets that they will not have seen. After the tour of South Africa, the Under 19 Asia Cup is scheduled for Malaysia in June and then the World Cup in Australia. Hopefully the Board can organise some matches ahead of the World Cup to give these boys more exposure at this level and for us to take a look at how the youngsters are coping with this standard of cricket."

Azhar who has in the past worked with Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Amir and Yasir Arafat amongst others added "I've been asked to take the Under 19s to South Africa for now, let's see how things develop and whether the Board feel I am the right man to take the boys to Malaysia and Australia. I would be more than happy to take on this responsibility if required."

Asked about any particular individuals who had impressed him at Under 19 level Azhar stated "Well there are the obvious names of Usman Qadir and Babar Azam who have already featured in an Under 19 World Cup. Usman of course is a very talented leg spinner and Babar is a batsman of undoubted pedigree and has already featured in first class cricket."

"As well as the aforementioned, there are a couple of promising batsmen who have shone in Under 19 domestic cricket this season, Sami Aslam who plays for National Bank and Umar Waheed who I know from Rawalpindi."

"Regarding the fast bowling talent, Ehsan Adil of Faisalabad who is a 6 foot 2in fast bowler from Faisalabad looks a very fine prospect as does the left arm pace bowler Zia ul Haq of PIA."

"These boys have done very well in domestic Under 19 cricket and it will be interesting to see how they do against their South African and Zimbabwean counterparts. It's difficult to predict how well they will do but they seem to have the basic ingredients to go on and do well."

Azhar spoke of his and the other coach's role in the important development of those cricketers who will eventually be selected for the various Under 19 tours.

"My job together with the other coach's is to identify areas where we feel these boys need to improve upon and help them develop and work on those identified areas. These boys are of course identified as the future talent of Pakistan and generally have the basic ingredients, we work with them on some technical aspects but more so the mental side of the game, in order that they have a good grounding for international cricket."

The touring party for South Africa departs on 5th January and will return to Pakistan on 30th January, with Pakistani fans around the world hopeful that the development of the next generation of cricketing superstars from Pakistan starts here.