KP victories to encourage youngsters: coach

KARACHI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Fighters coach Abdur Rehman on Tuesday said that the title victories for the province in the last couple of national events would leave a good impression on the overall cricket of the province.
“Winning the National T20 Cup and Pentangular Cup will certainly leave a positive impact on the young cricketers of the province. They will now realise that they have a good standard and so will take the game seriously,” Abdur Rehman told ‘The News’ in an interview from Peshawar on Tuesday.
KP Fighters defeated Balochistan Warriors by six wickets in the final of the Pentangular Cup One-day Tournament here at the National Stadium.
“Our cricketers used to play without knowing exactly what they would achieve in their careers. When we won T20 Cup last year some of our key players were considered by the selectors for national duty,” Rehman said.
“Imran Khan represented Pakistan in Test cricket, while four to five players played for Pakistan A. This will motivate the rest of the cricketers of KP,” Rehman said.
Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, right-handed batter Adil Amin, left-hander Israrullah, left-arm pacer Taj Wali and opener Iftikhar Ahmed are some gutsy players who could represent Pakistan in future.
“These are good players. It is now the job of the authorities to polish them,” Rehman said.
He specifically lauded Rizwan for his superb performance in KP Fighters’ achievement in the Pentangular Cup. “Rizwan played brilliantly. He did not let us feel the absence of Shoaib Malik. In the final he was not feeling well. When he was batting I told the physiotherapist to tell him to come out. But Rizwan said he was good and went on to complete his superb hundred,” the coach said.
Rizwan, who hit a double hundred in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Gold final while representing SNGPL against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) here last month, blasted two centuries in the Pentangular Cup.
Rehman said after Shoaib Malik left them they were told that they would be given replacement from Punjab. “We told the selectors that we should be given Malik’s replacement from KP and they agreed and we opted for Zohaib Khan who hit a fifty in his first game,” Rehman said.
To a query, he said the only problem KP had been facing was the dearth of spinners. “There is no genuine spinner in KP and we have to make do with part-time spinners,” he said. “At the end of the season I plan to hold a camp in Peshawar in which spinners from all over KP will be invited,” Rehman said.
He said spinners were not produced because of the trend of seaming tracks in the country.
“In Peshawar, nobody wants to become spin bowler and you see mostly fast bowlers come from this region. Test cricketer Arshad Khan was the last spinner from Peshawar. Yasir Shah is from Abbottabad Region,” he said.