Brave youngsters and match-winners key for Pakistan: Maroof

By Bismah Mahroof

Our squad possesses match-winners and players who can turn the game on their head, which is very exciting for us in a tournament where every game matters. One victory can easily be the difference between qualifying for the semifinals and not making it. All it takes is for one player and one moment to win a cricket match and we are confident we have the right personnel that can do that for us.

We have a lot of youngsters in the side who are brave and express themselves. It will be exciting to see them play – we have an average age of 24.8 in the side, which is both an eye to the future and a glimpse into what these players are capable of right now. Ayesha Naseem is yet to have a cap at international level but, aged just 15, we have already seen that she is a talented player. Her ability to not only score runs, but score them quickly, at domestic level is a stand-out.

Another young player, Syeda Aroob Shah, is only 16 but has already played for us in both ODI and T20I matches. We have already seen her leg-break and googly bowling challenge some of the best batters in the world and we’re looking forward to seeing what she can do in Australia. It is pertinent that every player in the side understands their role and delivers according to the plan.

We are very excited for the T20 World Cup and looking forward to it. If the players are able to perform to their potential and produce some big moments for us, then we are very confident of being able to have a successful tournament in Australia.

Over the past year, we have been playing some very good cricket and have produced some great performances in the T20I format. We lost to England in our last series but, before that, we put in some excellent performances against Bangladesh to win the series 3-0. We also went to South Africa and had a really exciting series there, so we’ve enjoyed getting this experience as a team and putting some performances together.

If you look at the graph of our performances, the results are on the rise and I am hopeful that it will stay the same in the upcoming World Cup. These are the moments we have been building up for and we are hopeful of using all the hard work to our advantage in Australia. The brand of cricket we have been playing and the manner of our performances has been really important to us. We want to continue to play in the same way over the next few weeks, and hopefully that can lead us to success in Australia.

This article was first published on International Cricket Council (ICC) website