Pakistan’s U-19 cricket captain Babar Azam on Friday said that his team’s chances of winning the latest edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup depend on how quickly they adapt to the conditions down under.
Speaking to media persons ahead of their tournament opener against Afghanistan, the 17-year-old right-handed batsman termed his side as favourites to lift the coveted trophy. However, he urged his teammates to get accustomed to the pace friendly conditions in Australia as soon as possible.
“Our recent performance at the international level is encouraging so I think our team could be termed as favourites alongside some other teams,” said Azam on the eve of tournament opener against Afghanistan, on Saturday.
“However, it will all depend on how quickly we adjust to the conditions in Australia. We all know that pitches and outfields in Australia are very hard and there is extra bounce on the pitches,” the Pakistan skipper insisted.
Pakistan, the two-time former champions (2004 and 2006), have been drafted in Group B along with New Zealand, Scotland and Afghanistan. They will open their Cup campaign against minnows Afghanistan at John Blanck Oval, Buderim, on Saturday, August 11.
Highlighting his team’s strengths going into the mega event, the Lahore-born cricketer said, “we bat deep, have a couple of good allrounders and also possess a few quality fast bowlers and spinners in the side.”
Pakistan go into the tournament at the back of a 2-1 series win against mighty Aussies. However, their performance in the official warm-up matches for the extravaganza was not that encouraging as they lost to England before winning against lowly ranked Papua New Guinea.
The biennial competition – featuring 16 teams, including the 10 ICC Full Members and six qualifiers (Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland Nepal, Namibia and Papua New Guinea) – gets underway in Queensland, on Saturday, August 11, with hosts Australia playing traditional rivals England in the curtain raiser, at Townsville.
The other two matches to be played on the opening day of the 2012 youth extravaganza will see Papua New Guinea taking on Zimbabwe at Townsville and Bangladesh locking horns with their Sri Lankan counterparts at Brisbane.
0 comments:
Post a Comment