UAE captain Yodhin Punja has told his players to “step up to the plate” against Thailand on Thursday – a match he labelled as a “must-win.”
The Under-19 boys have had a mixed Division Two World Cup qualifying campaign in Malaysia so far with a victory and defeat in their two encounters. They sit third in the five-team Group B with two points, behind Oman (2) and leaders Hong Kong (4).
With the top two advancing to the semi-finals, which will keep their qualification hopes alive for the Division One event in Sri Lanka, all-rounder Punja insists his team cannot afford to slip up at the Royal Selangor Club.
“I think our batsmen need to show more intent especially the top-order,” said the 17-year-old, who has five wickets in the 50-over tournament. “They have to make sure they don’t throw their wicket away. It’s not just them. Our fielding also needs to improve. We definitely need to try and stop a few more runs and stop those twos.
“Make no mistake, it’s a must-win game for us. We have to approach the game with a positive mindset. We have to step up to the plate and play every game from now like it’s a do-or-die clash.”
Punja and his team-mates can be encouraged that Thursday’s opponents will go into the match in Kuala Lumpur on the back of a heavy 142-run loss to Oman in their opener.
The ex-Cambridge High School pupil, who is on a cricket scholarship with Claremont in England, admits his side will be stepping into unknown territory.
“We don’t really know much about them to be honest,” he said. “We haven’t really seen them play in any of the previous tournaments that we have played in. But saying that, it doesn’t change our approach and we’ll definitely go out there and give our best.
“They lost their first game by a big margin and will be low on confidence, so we have to be on top from the very first ball as they will be keen to get back to winning ways.”
