KARACHI: Pakistan’s Under-19 cricket team coach, Sabih Azhar, has termed his team’s performance in the opening match of the World Cup against Afghanistan “satisfactory”.

"The first match of such an important tournament is always a bit difficult. Plus, Afghanistan is a good team and I think our boys did well to score 250-plus and then bowl them out for 140 odd. The bowlers bowled really well and before that, Umar Waheed and Mohammad Nawaz put up a crucial partnership. This is a good, morale-boosting victory for the boys. If they keep performing well like this, we will win all our matches," Azhar said while speaking to PakPassion.net.

He added that all the participating teams were taking the tournament very seriously and therefore were well prepared for it, resulting in tougher competition.

"Since the past few Under-19 World Cups, we have seen that all the cricketing nations are taking these tournaments very seriously. Every team comes into the tournament with proper preparations. A lot of people were saying that Afghanistan is a weak team. However, Afghanistan has been training in Australia for a month now. In fact, they have been staying at Sunshine Coast and have also hired Geoff Lawson and an Australian fielding coach too."

"In reality, all of the teams have prepared well for this tournament. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have always had good teams at the Under-19 level. Therefore, I think the upcoming matches are going to be quite tough and we will get to see some really good cricket," Azhar said.

Pakistan’s next game is against Scotland on 13th August.