LAHORE - Pakistan Under 19 team’s vice captain and middle order batsman Umar Waheed feels that Pakistan is in a group of five teams who could realistically lift the U-19 World Cup trophy and the standard of cricket will be very high in Australia.
Eighteen years old Lahore born Umar Waheed accumulated 222 runs in 5 innings at an average of 74, including 48 from 58 deliveries in the final and has also made an impressive start in domestic cricket in Pakistan and currently averages over 46 in List A cricket.
Looking ahead to the World Cup next month “I think that the five teams who stand a very good chance of winning the Under 19 World Cup are Pakistan, India, Australia, South Africa and England. All five teams possess good cricketers, players with ability and all the aforementioned teams on their day can defeat each other, the Pakpassion.net quoted Umar Waheed as saying. “One key factor will be how the wickets play in Australia. I expect the tracks to be bouncy, but if they are that’s fine as we did well on such tracks in South Africa last year. It’s going to be a very exciting tournament and I’m sure the standard of cricket will be very high. It’s a great opportunity for up and coming young cricketers around the world to show their talent to a huge audience.”
Pakistan will play three youth ODIs against Australia on 29th and 31st July and then finally on 3rd August before playing two World Cup warm up matches against England and Papua New Guinea. Pakistan’s U-19 World Cup campaign commences against Afghanistan on 11th August.