Sabih Azhar, team manager/coach of Pakistani U-25 team, speaks to Pakpassion.net about his views regarding the SAARC U-25 tournament and the team's performance.

By Anum Rahman (November 6, 2011)

The SAARC T20 Cup kicked off on the serene islands of Maldives this year with Pakistan now sitting in a dominating position after beating India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. This tournament also features other nations such as Afghanistan, Maldives and Bhutan. Similar to most other teams participating in the event, quite a few up-and-coming cricketers are included in the Pakistani squad with the likes of Raza Hasan, Jamal Anwar, and Mohammad Talha.

To track the Pakistan U-25 team's progress, PakPassion.net interviewed Sabih Azhar (the team manager-cum-coach), for his views regarding the tournament and the team's performance.

When asked about the level of competition and the performances of other teams, the Rawalpindi Rams’ coach mentioned, "The competition is good. There are teams like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan, all of which are good teams. There are also teams like Nepal and Bhutan that are not at the same level, but then Nepal just won against India this morning. So the level of competition is of good quality."

The T20 Cup commenced on November 1st, 2011, and Pakistan started off their winning run by facing India on the second day of the tournament. Sabih Azhar praised the team coherence for this feat and responded, “We arrived here on the 29th of October and our match was scheduled for November 2nd. So in these two or three days gap, our hope was to get the team to gel together and to create an understanding between the boys so a good team combination could occur. Thankfully, there is a good atmosphere around the team and this is something that we were hoping for as well.”

He further emphasized this point and went on to elaborate, “You know, we were hoping to see passion and enthusiasm in the boys and to make them actually care about winning. We wanted the players to say to themselves that we have to win.” Pakistan, led by Umer Amin, beat India convincingly by 149 runs at the Ahmed Ali Didi Cricket Ground in Fuvahmulah.

A similar performance against Sri Lanka awarded Pakistan another victory as they won by 7 wickets. Naming Sri Lanka as a “good and balanced young team,” Sabih Azhar expressed his feelings about Pakistan’s victory by claiming, “They [Sri Lanka] won the toss but we got them at 157-9 after 20 overs. Then in 14.1 overs with 3 wickets down, we sealed the match.”

The tournament so far has seen a lot of high scoring matches especially with Afghanistan putting on a score of 316 against Maldives. However, the team coach stated that the dimensions of the ground are not far off from international standards as “the boundary is at 68-67 yards. However, the pitch used is Astroturf pitch.”

Apart from the team’s overall performance, some individual accomplishments of the players have stood out throughout the tournament. Affirming his confidence in the selected squad, Sabih talked about the chances of some players breaking into the international team: “Well, all the boys are specialist T20 players. Like in yesterday’s match [against India], Awais Zia made 85 runs off of 32 balls, Nasir Jamshed made 48 runs and also today, he made 97 runs from 44 balls while Awais Zia made 40 runs from 15 balls [against Sri Lanka]. In bowling, everyone is doing well. Talha is doing a good job, Asad Ali is another one and then Raza Hasan did a good job today and yesterday. So the entire team has a great sense of achievement and I have great hopes that within a year, a lot of these players will get selected for the national team.”

Detailing his experiences in Maldives which is well-known for its tourist spots, Sabih claimed, “This is a very different experience for all the teams, players, and me. We are staying at a different island on a resort. To play the matches in the morning, we have to catch a plane for a 10-12 minute flight [there is a chartered plane and both teams sit inside it before a match]. Then, we go to a different island and that's where the stadium is. It is a very beautiful place and they are looking after the teams very well [the Maldives government and the Maldives Cricket Association]. The team matches have been organised very well.”

When asked about the crowd support for the matches, the U-25 team coach explained, “It is very similar to the cricket league matches in England with about 100-200 people sitting in the stadium. The matches are also telecast on local TV channels. They have given the tournament a nice international atmosphere as there is security and the teams are all staying at one place.” Further pointing out the ambiance of Maldives, he stated, “There is a nice atmosphere because we are enjoying the place and playing cricket too. So it is a good experience for everyone.”

As Pakistan head to the semi-final stage after beating Nepal by 77 runs, the team’s confidence from the flawless victory in the preliminary stages will surely come into play. Regarding this confidence, Sabih Azhar mentioned, “Well, in two days we have won matches against two big teams but we are taking it day by day. Confidence is high because we have won two big matches but we are not taking any team easily. We are taking it match by match and planning for every game. If we get to the final, then we shall see what happens.”

Pakistan will face Maldives in the first semi-final match on November 6th, 2011, while Sri Lanka will battle it out with Afghanistan. The finals will be held on Monday (November 7th) as the winners of each semi-final match will look to secure the SAARC T20 Cup title.