ISLAMABAD: Pakistan juniors want to emulate national team’s spirited display in the 2021 T20 World Cup with captain Qasim Akram saying that they have shown the juniors as how to take on the opposition on the biggest stage.
In a virtual media talk from West Indies, Wednesday evening, Qasim said the national team players were the role models for the juniors.
“Our national cricketers have shown the world how to take on the opposition during the T20 World Cup held in the UAE. We want to follow that very spirit.”
Pakistan will take on Papua New Guinea in the World Cup Under-19 opening match on January 15.
“We are coming out of the Asia Cup where our performance was satisfactory. Though we have failed to qualify for the final, we defeated India and have shown that we are carrying some of the best players with us. Hopefully, the weaknesses we have shown in our defeat against Sri Lanka in the semi-finals would not be repeated.”
The junior team captain revealed that the Greenshirts were carrying some of the exciting talents with them.
“Shahzad, Abdul Faseeh (batting), in fast bowling both Zeeshan and Ahmed Khan as an all-rounder are ready to show the world how talented they are. But we are not banking on a few players. Every player will have to chip in to make the World Cup worth remembering.”
The all-rounder, who is playing his second World Cup, said that he was carrying his experience into the mega event which would be his second.
“At the junior stage, all you need is confidence and spirit to give your best. We have won both the warm-up matches with a good margin and are settling down well here. Our top-order is delivering well and hopefully we would continue with the same vein going into the World Cup.”
Qasim rated the playing strips in West Indies as more or less like pitches in Pakistan.
“Pitches here are taking spin which is good for us as we are used to playing on such surfaces. We have gone through some tough sessions. Hopefully, you would see us in the best of form in the World Cup.”
The junior team skipper contemplated that the batting line-up that somewhat struggled in the UAE during Asia Cup would give a different look.
“We have worked hard on our shortcomings and would make all possible efforts to avoid mistakes in the batting line-up. What we want is to go by the roadmap set by our coaches.”
Qasim praised the Indian batting lineup, saying that some of their leading batsmen await opportunities. “On the contrary, some of our key batsmen try to hit boundaries at a very early stage and it is the very reason we usually lose our wickets. Now we have realised these weaknesses and have tried to overcome these flaws during the warm-up matches.”
Qasim was confident of winning the World Cup and repeating yesteryears performance.