LAHORE: An under-performing player besides two others despite having controversial age records have been selected in place of deserving youngsters as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced the national squad for a tri-nation event and the ACC U-19 Asia Cup being held in the UAE from Nov 13 to Dec 8.

Tayyab Arif, a batter who failed in the last seven international matches averaging a scanty 10.00, has been selected for the continental event.

On the other hand, Yahya bin Abdul Rahman, Ali Hasan Baloch and Obaid Shahid, all batters, have impressive performance to their credit at the domestic level. They were called for the trial matches, which were held to select the team for the Asia U-19 Cup, but were ignored.

Yahya scored two half-centuries in the trial matches but was included only as a non-travelling reserve.

Interestingly, Mohammad Riazullah, who on the PCB website is mentioned as 19 years 134 days old while in another record on the same website is mentioned as 17 years 34 days of age has been selected for the said event. Abdul Subhan’s age on the PCB website is mentioned as 20 years 25 days but he was also selected.

“The PCB today [on Friday] confirmed the squad for the 50-over tri-series and ACC U-19 Asia Cup 2024-25 set to take place in the UAE from Nov 13 to Dec 8,” the PCB said in a press release issued on Friday.

“Saad Baig, who led the Pakistan U-19 team in the last edition of the U-19 Asia Cup and the U-19 World Cup 2024, has been appointed the captain of the 15-player squad which will be trimmed to 14 for the Asia Cup beginning on Nov 29,” the statement added.

In the 50-over U-19 Asia Cup, Pakistan are placed in Group ‘A’ and will take on arch-rivals India on Nov 30 in their first match of the tournament before taking on the UAE and Japan on Dec 2 and 4, respectively at the Dubai International Stadium.

The top two teams from Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ will take on each other in the semi-finals.

Squad: Saad Baig (captain, wicket-keeper) (Karachi), Abdul Subhan (Abbottabad), Ali Raza (Sialkot), Faham-ul-Haq (Lahore), Farhan Yousuf (Lahore), Haroon Arshad (Karachi), Hassan Khan (Rawalpindi), Mohammad Ahmed (Lahore), Mohammad Huzaifa (Bahawalpur), Mohammad Riazullah (Abbottabad), Naveed Ahmed Khan (Karachi), Shahzaib Khan (Abbottabad), Tayyab Arif (Sialkot), Umar Zaib (Abbottabad) and Usman Khan (Fata)

Non-travelling reserves: Ahmed Hussain (Peshawar), Mohammad Huzaifa (Bahawalpur), Rizwanullah (Karachi), Yahya bin Abdul Rehman (Lahore).

Support staff: Ghulam Ali (head coach-cum-manager), Agha Sabir Ali (assistant/fielding coach), Mohammad Aleem Bajwa (physio), Mohammad Talha (analyst), Rehan Riaz (bowling coach), Saboor Ahmed (strength & conditioning coach), Syed Nazir Ahmed (media and digital manager)

Pakistan fixtures:

(Tri-series; all matches to be played at ICC Academy, Dubai)

Nov 13: Pakistan vs UAE

Nov 15: Pakistan vs Afghanistan

Nov 20: Pakistan vs Afghanistan

Nov 22: Pakistan vs UAE

Nov 26: Final

U-19 Asia Cup (Group ‘A’ matches to be played at the Dubai International Stadium):

Nov 30: Pakistan vs India

Dec 2: Pakistan vs UAE

Dec 4: Pakistan vs Japan

Dec 6: Semi-final 1 (A1 vs B2, Dubai), semi-final 2 (B1 vs A2, Sharjah)

Dec 8: Final

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024