LAHORE: Terming the squad well-balanced covering all bases, Pakistan captain Saad Baig on Saturday said they were targeting victory in the ICC U-19 World Cup starting in South Africa later this month.

“Our target is to win the World Cup for which our team is well balanced. It has four fast bowlers, three all-rounders and a good bunch of batsmen,” wicket-keeper/batter Saad said during a press conference before the national squad left for South Africa late Saturday night.

“The standard of our fielding is also up to the mark as we did not miss our catches in the Asia Cup and during the training camp more focus was on improving the fielding,” added Saad who has been leading the national junior team for the last two years.

“Under the guidance of [head coach] great Mohammad Yousuf and experienced fast bowling coach Juniad Khan, our team attended a crucial training camp in Lahore to prepare for the World Cup.”

Pakistan are set to compete in the U-19 World Cup being staged from Jan 19 to Feb 11. The 16 participating teams are divided into four groups. Pakistan are placed in Group ‘D’ alongside Afghanistan, Nepal and New Zealand.

While lamenting that Pakistan could not win the Asia Cup last month when the green-shirts lost the semi-final to hosts UAE, Saad said “we now resolve not to take any team easy and avoid the mistakes we made in that semi-final”.

On Pakistan’s victory against arch-rivals India in the same Asia Cup, Saad said he never took that clash as a particular one.

“In the World Cup India are not in our pool. However, our strategy is to take every team on a match-to-match basis while showing no complacency,” he underlined.

Regarding Babar Azam and former captain Rashid Latif as his role models, Saad claimed the Pakistan team had the ability to adjust to South African conditions and give their best at the global showpiece.

Terming the event a challenge, the captain said “the entire team will play like one unit, it is a proud moment for me to lead Pakistan as captain in the World Cup”.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2024