Pakistan U19 World Cup captain Hassan Khan hopeful of lifting silverware

19-year-old optimistic of Pakistan’s chances in 16-nation tournament

KARACHI: Pakistan U19 cricket team left for Australia to participate in the landmark event for the age group, which will start from January 13 in New Zealand.

Pakistan are being led by captain Hassan Khan and he is optimistic the team is ready to put on a good show for cricket fans in the country.

Before entering the business end of the competition, the team is scheduled to play three ODIs against Australia. After that, they will be vying against hosts New Zealand in two 50-over encounters.

“We have been training for a while now and rectified the mistakes we made in the Asia Cup. I believe the team is fit and ready to perform well in the mega event,” Hasan told The Express Tribune.

Pakistan national seniors team won the Champions Trophy in 2017 and Hassan believes the U19 team wants to gift the first big trophy to the nation when the new year starts.

“The tournament is taking place at the start of the year and we hope we can bring the trophy home and give our nation a new year’s gift,” said Hassan.

Pakistan are placed in group D in the tournament with Afghanistan, Ireland and Sri Lanka.

They will open their U19 World Cup campaign with a match against Afghanistan on January 13 at Cobham Oval in Whangarei.

Their next fixtures places them against Ireland, which will be played on January 16, while Hassan and co will take on Sri Lanka in the last group D match on January 19.

Meanwhile, in group A, hosts New Zealand will compete for a place in the last eight against South Africa, West Indies and Kenya.

Group B will see Australia, India, Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe pitted against each other.

Bangladesh, England, Canada and Namibia will vie against each other in Group C for the spot amongst the quarter-finalists.