Pak-Afghan Under-19 World Cup opener today

WELLINGTON: Confidence is a wonderful thing. It can prop up players to an extent where they find new strengths that they hadn’t come across previously.

Ask the Afghanistan players - out to extend their dominance over Pakistan in the opening clash of the ICC Under-19 World Cup on Saturday. Afghanistan defeated Pakistan twice - in the opening clash and in the final of the Asia Cup last year. A similar set of players have been picked for the tournament and they’ll be keen to repeat their performances.

Afghanistan, though, will be keen on not banking just on Mujeeb Zadran and Ikram Ali Khil. Rahmanullah, Ibrahim Zadran and Qais Ahmad have all shown they are more than capable of hurting the opposition and the think-tank will been keen on seeing them put up another clinical show.

Pakistan, on the other hand, will have revenge on the back of their mind. They’ll also be aiming a good start to the tournament having been placed in a slightly easier group with Ireland, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. But for that, they’ll have to pass the first stern test.

They’ll be well aware of the threat Zadran will pose to their batsmen. And will have to find out ways to tackle the bowling. After all, they were shot down for just 57 and 65 in the Asia Cup by Afghanistan - Zadran picked up 11 wickets in those two clashes.

Teams: Pakistan (from): Muhammad Mohsin Khan, Muhammad Zaid Alam, Rohail Nazir, Mohammad Taha, Ali Zaryab , Saad Khan, Hasan Khan (c), Muhammad Musa, Shaheen Afridi, Munir Riaz, Suleman Shafqat, Ammad Alam, Arshad Iqbal, Imran Shah, Mohammad Ali Khan. Afghanistan (from): Naveen-ul-Haq (c), Rahmanullah, Mohammad Ibrahim, Darwish Rasooli, Nisar Wahdat, Tariq Stanikzai, Azmatullah, Qais Ahmad, Mujeeb Zadran, Zahir Khan, Yousuf Zazai, Wafadar, Ikram Faizi , Baheer Shah, Waqar Ishaqzai.

Meanwhile the clash between Windies and New Zealand has to be the marquee clash of the opening day.Both teams won their first warm-up game before the second one was washed out because of rain. New Zealand, though, enter the contest with a slight edge considering the familiarity with the conditions. However, Windies, on all levels, have time and again showed they are more than capable of raising their game up several notches in major tournaments and have made it a habit of defying popular beliefs.In other matches Zimbabwe will take on Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh will meet Namibia in Lincoln.