LAHORE: Pakistan captain Rohail Nazir has expressed the hope he will lead from the front to win the forthcoming ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.

Rohail, who has performed exceptionally well in the past with the bat and gloves especially after winning the Emerging Cup last year in Bangladesh as captain, told reporters: “I wish to play to my true potential and lead from the front to help Pakistan win the World Cup.”

The Islamabad-based youngster began his career from Diamond Club, and has already earned praise from former Test cricketers, who tipped him as one of the brightest prospects for the country.

Rohail and a majority of his team-mates are familiar with the conditions of South Africa since Pakistan had toured there.

The young skipper aid the team had been training for the World Cup for 30 days at the Gaddafi Stadium where the boys were taught finer points of the game including power-hitting and taking runs in ones and twos.

“Our head coach Ijaz Ahmed has advised the openers not to lose the wicket in the first 10 overs and to play without having any fear in their mind about the opposition. The coach told us ‘go for win and in case of loss forget about it’ and move forward to meet next challenges,” Rohail said.

About the strength of the squad, Rohail said it was studded with good all-rounders and some of the batsmen have also played the first-class cricket.

“Seniors such as Misbah-ul-Haq and Sarfraz Ahmed visited our training camp and they hailed the potential of this team. As captain I hope we will win the World Cup,” he said.

He said many cricketers in the world who are now representing their senior team, were the product of the Under-19 World Cup and it is the best platform, to perform and challenge for places in the senior team.

He said as captain and wicket-keeper it was quite helpful for a cricketer to make wise decisions and he was grateful to Sarfraz for his guidance from his experience of winning the under-19 World Cup in 2006 when Pakistan defeated in the final at Colombo.

The squad leaves for South Africa on Friday morning.

Squad: Rohail Nazir (captain), Aamir Ali, Fahad Munir, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Aarish Ali Khan, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Wasim, Qasim Akram, Mohammad Aamir Khan, Haider Ali, , Mohammad Aamir Ali, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Basit, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai.

Team management: Nadeem Khan (manager); Ijaz Ahmed (head coach); Abdul Rehman (assistant coach); Saboor Ahmed (trainer); Usman Ghani (physio); Usman Hashmi (video analyst)l Emmad Hameed (media manager).

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2020