Eighteen year old Waheed who has been named vice captain for next month’s Under 19 world cup in Australia gave PakPassion.net his thoughts on the Under 19 Asia Cup and also looked ahead to the Under 19 world cup.

By Saj Sadiq (8th July, 2012)

 

Pakistan Under 19s returned home recently as joint winners of the Under 19 Asia Cup after a nerve wrecking tied final against arch rivals India. After Pakistan reached a challenging 282 for 9, the Indians looked well set on 247 for 3 after 44.3 overs, but despite the opponents only requiring 36 runs from 33 deliveries with 7 wickets in hand, the Pakistani bowlers managed to claw their way back into the match and ensure a tie as India lost their eighth wicket on the last ball of the match.

One of Pakistan’s most consistent performers with the bat in Kuala Lumpur was middle order batsman Umar Waheed who accumulated 222 runs in 5 innings at an average of 74, including 48 from 58 deliveries in the final. Lahore born Waheed has also has made an impressive start in domestic cricket in Pakistan and currently averages over 46 in List A cricket.

Eighteen year old Waheed who has been named vice captain for next month’s Under 19 world cup in Australia gave PakPassion.net his thoughts on the Under 19 Asia Cup and also looked ahead to the Under 19 world cup.

“Overall the Asia Cup was an exciting and very enjoyable experience. I personally did well and was satisfied with my efforts and collectively the squad did well in Malaysia. I felt I performed when the team needed me to.”

“We went to Malaysia in the hope that we would come back with the Under 19 Asia cup Trophy and in the end had to settle as joint winners. The tournament presented us with valuable experience ahead of the world cup in Australia and I’m sure all of the squad will utilise that experience in Australia.”

Speaking of the tied Asia cup final Waheed felt that in the end a tie was probably a fair result and that the Pakistani bowlers deserve huge credit for their fight back after what seemed a lost cause.

“There was a lot of pressure on the team going into the final against India. Any match of course against India is huge but a final even at Under 19 level is a must win match for both sides and both sets of fans. We were quite satisfied with our total, perhaps we could have got closer to 300, but when the Indians were batting I thought that the game was theirs. However the effort from our bowlers in the last 10 overs was tremendous. The never say die attitude was magnificent and in the end it was impossible to split the two evenly matched sides. I’m certain that the two close matches against India will be extremely beneficial to all of us, particularly if there are any close matches at the world cup.”

Waheed also stated that there was some confusion amongst the Pakistani players when the India Under 19s lost a wicket on the last ball of the match leaving them on the same total as Pakistan. Some of the Pakistani players actually thought that they would be awarded the trophy as they were undefeated throughout the tournament.

“The team management were aware that the match had ended in a tie and that the trophy would be shared by the teams, but most of the playing eleven including myself actually thought we would be declared tournament winners as we were unbeaten throughout the tournament. However afterwards we were informed that the rules had been changed a month earlier and that if the scores finished level then previous tournament results would have no bearing on the final outcome.”

Looking ahead to the world cup next month Waheed feels that Pakistan is in a group of 5 teams who could realistically lift the trophy and he feels that the standard of cricket will be very high in Australia.

“I think that the five teams who stand a very good chance of winning the Under 19 world cup are Pakistan, India, Australia, South Africa and England. All five teams possess good cricketers, players with ability and all the aforementioned teams on their day can defeat each other. One key factor will be how the wickets play in Australia. I expect the tracks to be bouncy, but if they are that’s fine, we did well on such tracks in South Africa last year. It’s going to be a very exciting tournament and I’m sure the standard of cricket will be very high. It’s a great opportunity for up and coming young cricketers around the world to show their talent to a huge audience.”

Pakistan will play three youth ODIs against Australia on 29th and 31st July and then finally on 3rd August before playing two world cup warm up matches against England and Papua New Guinea. Pakistan’s under 19 world cup campaign commences against Afghanistan on 11th August.