With the success of the Pakistani National squad in the Asia Cup now part of history, the torch has been passed onto the young guns of Pakistan to try and match the achievements of their seniors in the U19 Asia Cup in Malaysia, due to start in a couple of months.

Apart from concentrating on the Asia Cup, the U19 Coach Sabih Azhar has also been busy preparing the youth team for another tilt at the U19 World Cup Title, one which Pakistan was the proud winner of in 2004 and 2006. PakPassion.net had the opportunity to speak with Sabih about some of the exciting prospects who, in his view, will feature prominently as future stars for Pakistan.

The most well-known player in the squad, is the U19 captain and opening batsmen, Babar Azam. Babar, who is also a cousin of the Akmal brothers, has been a mainstay in the U19 setup for a couple of years now. Having already two impressive seasons of domestic cricket under his belt at the tender age of 17, Babar has many observers including Sabih Azhar understandably excited about his prospects.

“Babar Azam is the most experienced in the team with this being his second U19 World Cup,” Sabih said. “Wherever he has played he has performed well. He is the backbone of our team and there are high hopes that in the upcoming World Cup he will help the team post big scores with his good starts up the top of the order.”

Captaincy is something that has been entrusted onto the amicable Babar, but the coach is impressed with his progress. “Captaincy is a learning process for him as he has never captained before. There is still a lot he has to learn regarding captaincy but he is good learner, so I am confident that with experience he will continue to develop in that regard.”

When quizzed on how close he thought the ZTBL youngster was to an elevation to the senior international squad, Sabeeh spoke of great expectations. “It is hard to gauge how close he is to an international call-up, although you can certainly see his future is very bright. In the just concluded National One Day tournament he has consistently scored very well in 4-5 games, including a century and a couple of 80s.”

Sabih was also confident that a good showing in the U19 World Cup would go a long way towards helping Babar’s credential. “There are plenty of hopes that after the U19 World Cup he will have established himself as a consistent player and be knocking on the selector’s door. The rest is up to him and his efforts.”

Another batsman to have performed well on the U19 stage is Babar’s opening partner, the impressive left handed opener Sami Aslam who plays for the Lahore Eagles. “Sami Aslam has been a consistent scorer for us at the U19 level including the South African tour.” Sabih said. Sami topped the batting charts on the South African tour amassing 386 runs at an average of 43. “He is a gutsy player and his greatest quality is that he knows how to score runs,” Sabih added. “He will be a vital player for us in the U19 World Cup.”

Sabih next spoke highly of the vice-captain Umar Waheed as another vital cog in the team. He was particularly impressed with Umar’s professionalism and responsibility. “Umar Waheed is also a backbone of our middle order. He has performed well for us and he is a very mature cricketer. He is good at consolidating the innings in the middle order.” The right handed middle order batsmen from Lahore scored 323 runs in the recently concluded tour of South Africa. “He is the type of player we need in the middle order as he takes on responsibility.” Aside from being an accomplished batsman, there were some other qualities which impressed his coach. “In addition, Umar is an excellent fielder and our team’s vice-captain. He provides valuable assistance to the captain as he is good thinking cricketer. He is another we have high hopes of to perform well in future tournaments.” Sabih added.

No Pakistani side is complete at any age group level without raw pace, and as usual this side possesses two exceptional prospects in Ehsan Adil and Zia Ul Haq.

Ehsan Adil, the right handed pacer was a consistent performer all tour in South Africa picking up wickets regularly and bowling at an impressive economy rate of under 4 RPO. “He [Ehsan Adil] is a very good cricketer. He bowled very well on the South African tour and he was also very handy with the bat with some good hitting,” Sabih said. His late order hitting cameo innings of 22 off just 11 balls included 3 sixes, helped Pakistan win the third game of the Youth ODI Series 2-1 against South Africa with 3 balls to spare.

Since returning from that tour, Ehsan has played five games for the Faisalabad Wolves and picked up 6 wickets. “He has also been bowling very well in the National One Day Tournament. We have high hopes that he will continue to bowl well in upcoming tours for the U19 Team,” Sabih remarked.

At the other end is the left armer Zia Ul Haq whose pace and variation has made him a key strike bowler for the youth team, as Sabih explained. “Zia Ul Haq is another exciting cricketer. He is blessed with some very good pace.” The Vehari born pacer who also plays for PIA, picked up an impressive 19 wickets over 11 matches on the South African tour. “On the recent tour, we have been working with him on improving his variations in the form of slower balls, yorkers and bouncers. He is learning at a rapid pace. He will be our main strike bowler in this year’s World Cup,” Sabih said.

Sabih is also one of eight applicants who have applied for the Pakistani bowling coaching position, made vacant after Aaqib Javed accepted a position to become the UAE head coach. Known as an effective right arm pace bowler for Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan in his playing days, he now seems to have a strong case for the position of bowling coach for the national team given his excellent coaching credentials which include coaching certifications at both national and international levels.

When he is not touring with the U19 squad, Sabih coaches the Rawalpindi team which has helped produce some exciting cricketers in recent times. With the troublesome position of wicketkeeping constantly under scrutiny in the Pakistani team, Rawalpindi can easily lay claim to a top future prospect in the name of Jamal Anwar.

“Jamal Anwar is a very talented keeper. He is certainly one of the top keepers in Pakistan”, said the Rawalpindi coach. “He’s an excellent wicketkeeper and he bats very well too.” Pakistan will be competing at the T20 World Cup this year in Sri Lanka and Sabih felt that this form of the game may prove a fruitful one for the 21 year old keeper. “I think he will make a very good T20 player. Let’s see how he performs in the upcoming T20 domestic tournament, as there are some high hopes for him.”

It remains to be seen how quickly these young players transform the good form they have shown at youth and domestic levels and take the next step up to the international stage like those before them. Only time will tell but if the experience of Sabih Azhar is any guide, the future of Pakistani cricket is in good hands.