KARACHI, Feb 4: The Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) is launching a specialised coaching programme for under-19 cricketers to groom and prepare quality cricketers for the association.

“I have taken up the task to train and groom cricketers for Karachi,” former first-class cricketer Taufiq Tirmizi said on Saturday.

He said that other coaches included former first-class cricketers Nasir Shah, Sarfraz Ahmed and Moonis Qadri while the administrative staff consists of Hasnain Zia and Bisalat Mirza.

Around 42 promising cricketers have been picked up for the training programme which will be launched next week.

“Specialised coaching will be given in different areas like batting, bowling, fielding and physical fitness, Taufiq maintained, adding that the coaching plan is being launched in consultation with KCCA president prof Sirajul Islam Bukhari.

The following cricketers have been picked for the first phase of the coaching programme:

Zone-I: Arif Khan, Umar Imtiaz, Jibran Yousuf, Shehroz Siddiqui, Mohammad Ishaq, Hafiz Taimur and Rashid Aslam.

Zone-II: Rao Waqar, Asim Shah, Shahzaib Nazar, Farooq Hasan and Sarfraz Malik and Saeed Raza.

Zone-III: Tauseef Khan, Aqib Rizvi, Sikander, Ali Shah, Fozul Hasan.

Zone-IV: Shahid Nadeem, Jawwad-ul-Hasnain, Aamir Idrees, Asad-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Zohaib, Faizan Ahmed and Wasiuddin.

Zone-V: Wasim Ahmed, Mohammad Sadiq, Mohammad Shahid, Owais Ahmed and Mohammad Shahbaz.

Zone-VI: Mohammad Waqas, Atharuddin, Bilal Abbas, Kalimullah and Abdul Rehman.

Zone-VII: Shehroz Sana-ul-Haq, Shoaib Rabbani, Arshad Bhatti, Afroz Hasan, Hamza Ghanchi, Jahangir Javed and Mohammad Muzammil.—APP