LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmad has said that the national junior strings are capable of winning the upcoming ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa from Jan 17 to Feb 9.

While addressing the Pakistan squad members at the National Cricket Academy here on Monday, Sarfraz said: “I have strong feelings that this team has the capability to beat any team in the competition and has the fire power to win the tournament. The momentum is on their side because they’ve had a good 2019 and they performed very well in South Africa and other recent series.

“I have fond memories of my time in the under-19 side. The best one is the final which we won to clinch the 2006 World Cup. The way we had to fight to beat India in that game is something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. Then we had a brilliant time and we played like one unit,” Sarfraz recalled.

He believes the coming World Cup will serve as a stepping stone for the teenaged cricketers in the squad.

“I have told the boys this is a perfect platform to graduate to the next level as we had also gone through this route in the past,” he remarked. “Nasim Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi are prime examples of this philosophy because they came through the under-19 level and are now part of the senior team.”

The Rohail Nazir-led Pakistan start their Group ‘C’ campaign in the World Cup on Jan 19 against Scotland. The other teams in this pool are Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2020