LAHORE: Pakistan ‘A’ team coach Mansoor Rana has termed his team as well balanced while Kenya coach Steve Tikolo decides to take advantage from his all-rounders as the two sides play the first match of their five-match one-day series at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Saturday.

“We have a good number of six to seven all-rounders, so it is an all-rounder side with good abilities in the fielding department too,” said Tikolo, a former international player, who is now accompanying the Kenya team as coach.

“My side is well balanced as we have prominent batsmen like Sharjeel Khan and Babar Azam; all-rounders like Fawad Alam, Hammad Azam and Anwar Ali; spinner like Raza Hasan and pacemen like Mohammad Talha and Mohammad Imran,” Mansoor said while talking with the media.

He added that he did not consider Kenya a weak rival as it was an experienced team, which had been playing regular cricket and had a strong development process at home.

“We will play all matches with true spirit of international matches and try to win,” he said.

Tikolo expected competitive cricket from Pakistan ‘A’ but refused to call his team as favourites.

“No team can be favourite in cricket. We will try our best to win matches,” he said.

He admitted Pakistan would come up with fighting spirit and said his team had to play competitively.

Tikolo was all praise for the PCB for providing them brilliant facilities in Lahore.

“We are practising here for the last two days and found brilliant facilities of international standard and now we are focusing on tomorrow’s (Saturday) game,” he said.

He said his players were trying to acclimatize with Lahore’s weather.

Meanwhile, Mansoor said it was a good opportunity for youngsters to prove their talent on home soil as their team was playing in Pakistan after a long time.

“We have recently played against the UAE in the UAE and now playing at home will provide upcoming cricketers a good opportunity to test their mettle,” Mansoor said.

He said credit went to the PCB for organising the series for the A side, as it was the real platform to pick youngsters for the Pakistan team.

He also thanked the Kenya team for touring Pakistan as it would help the country to invite more international teams.

He said his players were also excited over playing international cricket in Pakistan after a long time.

About reports that Pakistan’s banned off-spinner Saeed Ajmal might play against Kenya, he said he would welcome him if the PCB allowed him.

All the five matches will be 45-overs-a-side affairs and will be held at the Gaddafi Stadium. The first match starts at 9:30am.

Squads:

KENYA: Shem Ngoche (captain), Morris Ouma, James Ngoche, Alex Obanda, Ken Owino, Nelson Odhiambo, Emmanuel Ringera, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Gurdeep Singh, Elijah Otieno, Eugine ochieng, Lucas Olouch, Jedavji Bhimji, Hamza Malik, Jimmy Kamande.

Pakistan ‘A’: Fawad Alam (captain), Sami Aslam, Sharjeel Khan, Fazal Subhan, Babar Azam, Saad Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Mohammad Rizwan, Anwar Ali, Hammad Azam, Imran Khan, Mohammad Talha, Shahzad Rana, Raza Hasan, Shahzeb Ahmed.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2014