Pakistan U19 to go against champions BD next month

LAHORE: Pakistan’s U19 cricket team will tour Bangladesh next month to play a four-day and five 50-over matches against the side that won the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa last year.

As per the ICC’s age criteria, players born on or after September 1, 2002 have been selected. The tour has been arranged to provide further exposure to Pakistan cricket’s future stars following an extensive camp at the start of the year at the National High Performance Centre in Lahore.

The tour will also help prepare the players for next year’s World Cup in the West Indies. Prior to the April 12 departure, the team will play two 50-over practice matches besides a three-day match during a 10-day long camp that will run here from 2-11 April.

The 20-member squad has been chosen by the national juniors’ selection committee in consultation with the Pakistan U19 head coach.

Pakistan’s U19 head coach Ijaz Ahmed on Saturday said: “The tour provides a wonderful grooming opportunity for the players against one of the most formidable U19 sides at present which won the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup last year.

“We have a talented bunch of players and a number of them have proven their worth already at the domestic circuit in the recently concluded season.

“The squad also includes players like Abdul Wahid, Qasim Akram, Fahad Munir, Mohammad Irfan Niazi, Mohammad Shehzad and Tahir Hussain who represented Pakistan U19 in the World Cup; the tour will help further develop the skills of these players as they are our future.

“The tour will be a challenging one for us and one that will hold these players in good stead in this developmental stage of their careers. The series will also help us identify the potential players that we will field in next year’s World Cup in the West Indies.”

Six players who were part of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2020 in South Africa have been retained in the squad.