UAE U-19 captain Rohit Singh has urged his teammates to "come into the spotlight" at the upcoming World Cup and believes success could lead to the ultimate reward – a place at the 2015 World Cup.
Indeed, Singh and batsman Muaz Qazi have received a call-up to the senior side for the upcoming World Twenty20 in Bangladesh next month, proving that coach Aaqib Javed is prepared to give youth a chance on the biggest stages.
The U-19 World Cup in the UAE – which starts on Friday – will provide the younger generation the ideal opportunity to showcase their talent, and Singh has called on his colleagues to grab the chance with both hands.
“The UAE has just qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. A strong showing by a player this month might just pitchfork him into the senior national team,” Singh said.
“If that means a chance to travel to Australia and New Zealand next year, it would be an absolute dream come true,”
Although the UAE are tournament hosts and thus will enjoy home advantage, they face a tough task in qualifying from arguably the most competitive group of the World Cup that includes England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
However, Singh insists the UAE will not shirk from the challenge and already have plans in place as they attempt to upset the odds.
“We are playing two matches in Sharjah and one in Abu Dhabi. We played at these venues in the ACC U19 Asia Cup, and have re-looked at our strategies for them. Our plan is to target teams with our spinners," Singh revealed.
"This is one of the tougher groups, if not the toughest. New Zealand is the highest seed, Sri Lanka is familiar with the conditions and while we have beaten England before, we believe they have a stronger team this time around.
“It’s important for all of us in the UAE team to shine here and come into the spotlight," he added. “We have to work harder on being consistent. Saving singles, rotating the strike in the middle overs, ground fielding and death bowling are areas we can improve on.
"Our opening partnership is excellent, Pankaj Samant is bowling beautifully and Chirag Suri has been in fantastic form with the bat.
“One area of particular concern right now is our inability to rotate the strike against spinners” he said.
The U19’s will certainly be looking to take inspiration from the senior squad following the recent achievements by the national team to qualify for the World Cup next year.
With the upcoming World T20 in March and the UAE’s impressive performances throughout the World Cup qualifiers in New Zealand, cricket is booming in the country.
The national team’s latest heroics will be a motivating factor as the youngsters look to better their displays in the recent ACC U19 Asia Cup.
Moreover, this being the UAE’s debut at the U-19 World Cup, the squad will be looking to put up a fight against the bigger cricket nations.
The top two teams in the group will qualify for the Super League while the bottom two will go into the Plate Championship, and the UAE's young guns are looking positive to impress on home soil.
