Peshawar
A 13-year old fast bowler Farhad Khan from tribal district to star Pakistan U16 cricket team to take on Australia U16 in a series of five 50-over-a-side matches and one Twenty20 fixture at the ICC Academy.
The series will start with the first 50-over match on Wednesday, January 9, and culminate with the T20 game on Sunday, January 20, 2019.
The team will depart for Dubai Sunday night from Lahore. This is Australia’s return visit after Pakistan had toured Melbourne in April 2018. Australia had clinched the five-match series 3-2, while Pakistan had won the one-off T20 game by seven wickets. The Pakistan side will be led by Umer Eman, the Lahore-born left-handed batsman and leg-spinner, who, along with Aaliyan Mehmood, Rizwan Mehmood, Samir Saqib, had also toured Australia last year.
Umer, after managing just 40 runs in four innings in Australia, had bounced back strongly by scoring 160 runs with a century and a half-century in the PCB U16 Pentangular Tournament 2018-19. In the PCB-Pepsi Stars U16 Tournament 2018-19, he scored 208 runs in seven innings at an average of 41.60 for Lahore U16 to finish the domestic season on a high.
Umer was thrilled at the opportunity of captaining the team when he termed it as a ‘dream coming true’, and also set his sights on winning all matches against Australia U16 at the ICC Cricket Academy.
‘We will aim to win all games in the conditions that are familiar to us,’ remarked Umer, adding: ‘I want to thank the Almighty Allah; it is a great feeling to not only represent but to captain Pakistan at a young age. It is like a dream that’s come true for me and I want to give it my absolute best.’
This series is part of the PCB’s planning and strategy to provide maximum opportunities and exposure to the budding teenage cricketers in the build up to the next ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, which will be held in South Africa in 2020.
‘This is a big platform for the entire squad. By performing here, we can stake a claim for selection in the U19 team that will play in the ICC U19 World Cup in South Africa in 2020. We need to express ourselves and make our presence felt in the series,’ Umer said.
Reflecting on his visit to Australia last year, Umer said: ‘When I played in Australia last year, I made a few mistakes but since then, I have been working extremely hard to overcome these. I am sure this series will also help me in improving my game.
‘International cricket at this age provides great opportunities of improvement for all of us and my goal is to work on my game all the time.’ Apart from playing some solid and hard cricket in Dubai, Umer is aiming to making some friends.
‘In Dubai, we will come across some of the players who were part of the last series Down Under. This presents us with an opportunity of knowing the Australian players better and making some friends. ‘Cricket is important but even more important is to become a good human and have a friendly relationship with our rivals.’
Series schedule: 09 January – 1st 50-over match, ICC Academy, Dubai 11 January – 2nd 50-over match, ICC Academy, Dubai 13 January – 3rd 50-over match, ICC Academy, Dubai 16 January – 4th 50-over match, ICC Academy, Dubai 18 January – 5th 50-over match, ICC Academy, Dubai 20 January – one-off T20 match, ICC Academy, Dubai.—APP
from Daily Pakistan Observer – http://bit.ly/2SLAe2V
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