Pakistan Under-16 team off for Bangladesh

KARACHI: The Pakistan Under-16 team, to be captained by Umer Eman, will leave for Bangladesh early Friday (today) morning for two three-day and three 50-overs matches to be played from April 29 to May 15.

The 16-member squad underwent rigorous training and practice sessions at the National Cricket Academy.

The side includes a number of exciting players who made a big impression in the series against Australia earlier this year in the UAE, winning the 50-overs match series 3-2 as well as the one-off T20 fixture.

Abbottabad’s all-rounder Ahmad Khan, who took 13 wickets against Australia and scored 84 runs, said: “I want to thank the coaches and management for providing us the opportunity of training hard in the pre-series camp.

“We got the opportunity of playing three-day cricket, which was fantastic. I want to perform the way I did against Australia. We are keen on winning the series in Bangladesh,” he added.

Middle-order batsman Rizwan Mehmood had a good run with the bat against Australia, scoring 114 runs in three innings. The Hyderabad-born batsman’s goal for the tour is to further improve his batting skills. “The series against Australia was great. My personal aim is to continue the performance against Bangladesh and improve my game and batting skills. The coaches have worked hard with us at the camp. The preparation is very good, and we as a team should do well on the tour,” he said.

Top-order batsman Sameer Saqib, who scored a hundred in one of the 50-overs practice match, is also keen on carrying forward the momentum. “We won both the 50-overs and T20 matches series against Australia, which was a great achievement.

“The training camp last week was a great experience. In Bangladesh, it will be all about adapting to the conditions and culture and learning further about our cricket,” Sameer said.

Squad: Umer Eman (Lahore) (captain), Kashif Ali (Karachi) (vice-captain), Ahmad Khan (Abbottabad), Ali Asfand (Faisalabad), Aliyan Mehmood (Karachi), Amir Hassan (Rawalpindi), Aseer Mughal (Rawalpindi), Faisal Akram (Multan), Farhad Khan (FATA), Haseebullah Khan (Quetta), Khalid Khan (Quetta), Mohammad Shehzad (Multan), Mohammad Waqas (Faisalabad), Rizwan Mehmood (Hyderabad), Sameer Saqib (Faisalabad) and Zubair Shinwari (FATA) (wicket-keeper).

Reserves: Ali Hassan (Sialkot), Arham Nawab (Faisalabad), Ayaz Shah (FATA) and Muneeb Wasif (Lahore).

Team management: Taimoor Azam Khan (manager), Mohammad Ashraf (head coach), Abdul Majeed (fielding coach), Imranullah (trainer) and Rehan Khalid (physiotherapist).