UAE coach Aaqib Javed has already tasted victory in this tournament after guiding his native Pakistan to glory in the 2004 U19 World Cup – and the 41-year-old believes his experience can inspire the players of his adopted nation.
The first task facing Javed and his team is an opener against England at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday morning, and he insists they won’t be overawed.
“With my experience of winning the Under-19 World Cup, I know how to build things and take it to the next level,” said Javed, who guided a young Pakistan side to their first triumph in the competition with a 25-run win over the West Indies in Bangladesh 10 years ago.
“I have 12 years of coaching experience and that really helped me develop this team. If you’ve done something in your life and tell this to your boys, then they believe you. It’s not what you think or what you say but what you’ve done some-times.”
Although the job will be much harder now than it was 10 years ago, Javed feels his team has enough talent to cause any opposition plenty of problems. “All I want is my players to go out there and put in a lot of effort and give them a hard time,” said the former Pakistan swing bowler and 1992 World Cup winner.
“We can beat any team. We worked hard and have a talented squad. If we can beat England, then why can’t we beat Sri Lanka or New Zealand?” Javed, who has also just steered the UAE senior team to World T20 and full World Cup qualification, believes his players have improved greatly since he first took over in 2012.
“A lot of the players have developed hugely,” he added. “Their physical condition and knowledge of the game was quite low. But now they have improved considerably.
They are fit and decent fielders and the batting is getting stronger.” With squad places up for grabs for the senior 2015 World Cup, Javed believes anyone from of the Under-19 squad can play in next year’s tournament.
“I can see in their eyes they want to do well. There is a lot of excitement in them because I will select the players if they play well,” said Javed, who has already confirmed U19 captain Rohit Singh and all-rounder Moaaz Qazi in his World T20 squad for next month’s competition in Bangladesh.
“Definitely five or six players will come good,” he said. “But the talent is there and if they stick to cricket then all of them can become good players.”
