Pakistan U-19 coach Ejaz Ahmed on Friday, January 10, said he is confident that his team can beat defending champions and arch-rivals India in the upcoming ICC Under 19 World Cup 2020 starting on January 17 in South Africa.
Ejaz, who played 60 Test and 250 ODIs for Pakistan, further claimed that Pakistan has a greater passion for the game than the Indians and that will prevail over the arch-rivals in the upcoming 16-team ICC event.
However, the Pakistan coach admitted that India has a very good cricket system and have a very strong outfit for the World Cup 2020 but the way his players thrashed them in the semi-final of the Asian Emerging Nations Cup last year with great passion, he feels the same theory would help his team to do the same in South Africa as well.
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Pakistan also won the Asian Emerging Nations Cup title in Bangladesh last year.
Ejaz told reporters on Friday, “India has a very good cricket system and it is organized but I know that we have more passion than them when we play against each other and that is how we also beat them in the semi-finals of the recent Asian Emerging Nations Cup.”
The coach added, “Even in the past, we beat India because of our greater passion and this time also I know the passion of our players will prevail over them although they have a very strong outfit.”
While Pakistan has won the U19 World Cup title twice, the defending champions India has four titles to their name and the 51-year-old feels the numbers don’t really matter, saying: “It is the same in the World Cup it does not matter which team is number one or defending champions what will matter is how a team plays on a given day. I personally feel our team is well balanced.”
Ejaz also ruled out that India would get the advantage of having played a four-nation tournament with South Africa, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe in the World Cup 2020 in South Africa.
He continued, “Our players have also trained hard in Lahore and we have played around 11 matches. We will also reach South Africa nine days before the World Cup and we have some practice games and I think our preparations are also very good for the tournament.”
On the controversy around Naseem Shah’s age, the head coach explained: “Look there was no controversy at all. The way we now see things is that you can’t expect an MBA to go and take BA exams. That is how we look at Naseem Shah, he has made the grade for Pakistan and now he should be performing for the senior team.”
He signed off by saying, “We have a couple of exciting young talent in the ranks. I expect Rohail and Haider to play for the senior team in two to three year’s time, they are that good.”
Noteworthy, Pakistan will open their World Cup 2020 campaign against Scotland in Potchefstroom while India against Sri Lanka in Bloemfontein on January 19.
(With PTI Inputs)
