Pakistan Under 19s Lift the World Cup in Dhaka

World Champions !
By Saj
March 7 2004

A huge boost for Pakistani cricket, as the Under 19 boys lift the World Cup in Dhaka. In a tight final against the West Indies, Pakistan overcame their opposition by the margin of 25 runs.

In an enthralling and fluctuating match which ebbed and flowed, it was the Pakistani youngsters who came put on top and did their cricket-mad nation proud.

After winning the toss, the Pakistani skipper Khalid Latif and the “Moin Khan” like Adnan Zaheer, provided their team with an excellent opening partnership of 53 after 12 overs. They were especially severe on the medium pace of Simmons, who went for 25 in 2 overs.

However when spin was introduced in the form of the left armer Bachan, both Adnan and Khalid found themselves back in the pavilion, as a healthy scorecard became 58 for 2 after nearly 15 overs. Jahangir Mirza and the promoted Tariq Mahmood played themselves in but did not go on to make the big score that the Pak team obviously required and the favourites were in trouble at 81 for 4 off 22 overs. With the game in the balance, Asif Iqbal, amazingly playing his first match of the tournament and the impressive all rounder Salman Qadir found themselves batting in tandem, knowing full well that another wicket and the Windies could be rampant.

In a matchwinning partnership, Asif and Salman were initially cautious, then working the ball around with precision and milking the bowling for ones and twos and then playing some superb strokes on both sides of the wicket. As the partnership flourished, the Windies fielding became erratic and at times casual. No risks were taken by the two Pakistani batsman and they composed this partnership in a manner which belied their years. The partnership yielded 98 runs and took the score to 178 after 43 overs when Asif was run out. As so often happens when a big partnership has occurred, both partners are out in quick time and Salman soon followed for 42 excellent runs.

Fawad Alam hit some lusty blows before he was brilliantly caught on the boundary and it was left to wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider to guide the Pakistan tail to a score of 230 for 9. After the bright Pakistan start, this was a disappointing total, but one that the Pakistani bowlers knew they could defend.

The Windies opening duo of Marshall and Maraj started much in the same way as their Pakistani counterparts, seizing in anything short or misdirected. At 69 for no loss after 12 overs, the Windies were well on course for glory. However casual running accounted for Maraj and the spin duo of Salman Qadir and Mansoor Amjad stemmed the flow of runs and started to tighten the noose around the rather impatient Marshall. Very much like the Pakistani innings the Windies innings fell away as the superb find Tariq “Murali” Mahmood and the tidy off spin of Jahangir Mirza left them at 94 for from 25 overs. What was needed from the West Indian perspective was a partnership similar to the one Asif and Salman had provided for Pakistan. Ramdin and Augustus patiently rebuilt the innings with a sensible stand of 50. However once Augustus was run out taking one risk too many, the Windies were up against it. The Pakistani fielding was razor sharp and the Windies running between the wickets just fell away. Zulqarnain, the tall and impressive wicketkeeper for Pakistan took a couple of smart catches behind the stumps and Ravi Rampaul hit a few lusty blows towards the end of the innings, but in the end the boys from the Caribbean fell short in their chase by 25 runs.

The Pakistani fielding especially in the second half of the innings was almost un-Pakistani like, as they inflicted 4 runouts on their opposition and the bowling, as it was throughout the tournament was impeccable.

One looks at tournaments like these for an indication of who the future stars of international cricket could be, and from a Pakistani perspective the names Tariq Mahmood, Mansoor Amjad, Ali Imran, Salman Qadir and possibly Riaz Afridi and Zulqarnain Haider come to mind. The main attention after this tournament will be just how quickly Mansoor and Tariq receive elevation to full international cricket, as both these spinners have shown immense talent and control. They have shown a stupendous array of variety in their bowling, with players from all opposition struggling to pick their wronguns, googlies and drifters. Nurturing this talent will of course be crucial to their development.

Most pundits after this victory commented that Pakistan were undoubtedly the team of the tournament with their attacking bowling lineup being too much of a handful for the opposition. However it remains to be seen if any of the Pakistani batsmen on show in Bangladesh, make it to the senior team, as none of them really caught the eye.

Finally a comment on the crowds for this tournament. It is a credit to the cricket loving folk of Bangladesh that the tournament was played in front of such large, well bahaved
and sporting crowds. The atmosphere generated by the Bengali fans was quite simply amazing.