Sindh Blues Face Sindh Whites in National U19 Championship Final

Sindh Blues Face Sindh Whites in National U19 Championship Final:

The final gives both teams a chance to win the PKR1.5 million first-place prize money in addition to the bragging rights of being the red-ball winners. The second-place squad will receive PKR 750,000. The winner of the individual awards (MOTM and MOTT) will receive PKR25,000, while the tournament’s top four performers—the best batter, best bowler, and best fielder—will receive PKR50,000 apiece.

The tournament, one of the many efforts by the Pakistan Cricket Board to discover the #PakistanFutureStars, started on July 30 with 12 teams split into two groups. Each of the six Cricket Associations fielded two teams, Blues and Whites, in an effort to widen the skill pool at the age-group level. Group A was comprised of the Blues, and Group B was made up of the Whites.

Sindh Blues, who had the most victories in their group with two victories in five games, came out on top. Pool B was won by Sindh Whites, who also had two victories, the most in their set.

The championship will go for four days. If the game is a tie, the winning team will be the one with the advantage after the first inning. Both teams will be deemed joint winners if the weather or playing surface prevents bowling even one ball.

Habibullah of the Sindh Blues has had a fantastic run with the bat, scoring 294 runs at an average of 73.50. The right-handed batsman, who has scored a century and a half-century, will be greatly relied upon by his team to carry up his remarkable batting performance during the final four days of the National U19 Championship this year.

Haseeb-ur-Rehman of the Sindh Whites has had an incredible run with the ball, capturing 32 wickets in just 3 matches. The right-arm off-break bowler has three four to his credit, and his best bowling stats are a remarkable nine for 79. Haseeb’s importance to his team is highlighted by the fact that Abdul Basit of the Northern Whites, the second-best wicket-taker in the competition, has 20 wickets in 4 games.

Ghulam Ashraf, a teammate of Haseeb’s, will try to finish the competition with the most dismissals. He is presently second on the leaderboard behind Zubair Shinwari of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Whites, who has 12 dismissals, with 11 (eight catches and three stumpings) in five games (10 catches and two stumpings).

Squads:

Sindh U19 Blues: Wahaj Riaz (Captain) (Karachi), Afnan Khan (Karachi), Aftab (Karachi), Ali Hasan (Karachi), Arbaz Khan (Karachi), Habibullah (Karachi), Hameed Karim (Karachi), Haroon Arshad (Karachi), Khuwaja Muhammad Hafeez (Karachi), Maaz Khurram (Karachi), Mirza Saad Baig (Karachi), Muhammad Hanif (Karachi), Naveed Ahmed (Karachi), Rehan Shah (Karachi) and Shahbaz Aziz (Jacobabad)Reserve players: Abdullah Alam (Karachi), Daud Abbas (Shaheed Benazirabad), Faroz Ali (Larkana), Haseeb-ur-Rahman (Hyderabad) and Ubaid Raza (Khairpur)Coaching staff: Muhammad Masroor (head coach), Tahir Mehmood (assistant coach)

Sindh U19 Whites: Muhammad Hassan Iqbal (Captain) (Khi Zone-III), Abdul Moeez (Khi Zone-VII), Ali Ishaq (Khi Zone-VI), Daniyal Ahmed (Khi Zone-V), Ghulam Ashraf (Khi Zone-VI), Hamza Qureshi (Khi Zone-VI), Mansoor Ali Khoso (Khairpur), Muhammad Fahad Amin (Khi Zone-III), Muhammad Saad Asif (Khi Zone-VII), Noman Ali (Hyderabad), Rumail Ahmed (Khi Zone-III), Saqlain Nawaz Rajput (Khairpur), Shahwaiz Yasir (Khi Zone-II), Syed Tayyab Hussain (Khi Zone-II) and Syed Yahya Shah (Hyderabad)Reserves: Abdul Rehman Niazi (Khi Zone-II), Awais Raheem Shah (Khi Zone-VI), Mohammad Umar Khan Sherani (Mirpurkhas), Muhammad Hannan (Sukkur) and Ziaullah (Khi Zone-II)Coaching staff: Ghulam Ali (head coach), Zafar Iqbal (assistant coach