UAE coach Aaqib Javed is hoping that his U19 side will take great confidence from their World Cup campaign but, despite the positives, believes his side could have performed better.
Javed was particularly disappointed with his batsmen who scored 200-plus just once, against Sri Lanka in their final group fixture, and were skittled for 102 and 169 all out against England and New Zealand respectively.
Speaking to Sport360°, Javed said: “I’m quite satisfied [with our performance] but we could have done better. I think we could have scored more [runs].
“I think our batting wasn’t as good [as it can be] even though we did well to score 200 against Sri Lanka but I think we could have been better in the games we played. But we have no excuse, even as an associate country. I think we will do some better stuff next time.”
Considering it is the UAE’s first U19 World Cup, and the first time the country has hosted an ICC event, there a lot of positives for Javed and his young charges to take from their inaugural World Cup jaunt.
The Pakistani coach believes that his side will have learnt a lot from the competition and is encouraged by the number of his players who have now decided to stay in the country to develop their cricket on home turf rather than head abroad to pursue both academic and cricketing education.
“You thought that we had no chance as we’re so far behind [the Test nations] but after we won against England and the [warm-up] game we won against Zimbabwe it gave us confidence and the belief that we can put some pressure on teams and [the team] have started thinking that they can be good cricketers and become a good team.
“Players would normally join universities in England, in America, India or Pakistan but already a few players have changed their mind and are staying back to go to local universities which I think is a positive sign.
“I think that five or six of these guys can turn into UAE senior players and I’m really excited [about that].”
The performance of note so far has been Chirag Suri’s fine half-century against Sri Lanka while two of the team’s stars have been selected for the senior side’s World Twenty20 squad headed for Bangladesh, representing an excellent opportunity as well as an incentive for the next generation of Emirati cricketers to pick up a bat and a ball.
Javed insists he has not selected U19 captain Rohit Singh and all-rounder Moaaz Qazi in order to make up the numbers and hopes to give one, if not both, of them a place in his starting eleven in Bangladesh.
“I wanted in that tournament some fresh guys who can field well and run faster in between the wickets because our senior team is quite aged. They are experienced, older guys and it will be good to have some youngsters around them and some freshness and some fresh ideas.
“Of the guys I’ve brought in – [Moaaz Qazi] is an all-rounder who bowls off-spin and he’s a strong lad. He can hit really hard.
“And the captain [Singh] is already a refined cricketer who can be very useful if he can continue his improvisation [in the senior side]. I would definitely like to play one of the guys in the final eleven.”
The tournament is not quite over for Javed and his side who now head into the Plate Championship which Javed says his team are heading into knowing that their chances of victory are significantly higher across a level playing field.
“They are looking forward to the Plate Championship because now the competition will be level and we can aim to do something better.”
