Pakistan achieved the purpose of playing “fearless but not careless cricket”, head coach Shahid Anwer said after they clinched the Under-19 Asia Cup with a thumping win over India on Sunday.
At the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai, opener Sameer Minhas stole the limelight with a sensational 172 off 138 balls to lay the foundation of his team’s huge 191-run win.
“We started something on June 17 [this year],” commented Shahid at a news conference in Islamabad following the arrival of his team and holding the meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to present him with Rs10million cash award.
A welcome to remember 💚✨
Pure love for Pakistan U19 after their #U19AsiaCup triumph 🙌#PakistanFutureStars pic.twitter.com/Mcpzbmmf87
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 22, 2025
“It was a bold step… we called up 70 players, did trials and every player was given four matches each on which he performed and then they featured in regional One-day tournament,” he said.
“The best girls, 30 of them, were then put through a five-month long camp … that’s how the team came about.
“We wanted to play courageous cricket but not careless cricket. We wanted a team together, and this is the result in front of us.”
Former junior World Cup-winning captain and current team mentor/manager Sarfaraz Ahmed said it was a “team effort”.
“We had players who could do something big,” Sarfaraz.
“The coaches put a lot of work in and the players reciprocated … our role was to give them that confidence to play without any fear. My message to them was to go out there and play their natural game, in a manner they will remember for the rest of their lives.”
The players also had the full support of team management, said Captain Farhan Yousaf.
“We talked about playing fearless cricket and the management supported us to play our natural game,” he said.
“We´ve been told that any failure is ours [management´s] and all success is yours. Our morale never went down.”
Fortunately, said Shahid, the coaching staff their hands full of capable athletes.
“In age group cricket, it’s more about getting the basics right,” he said. “We were fortunate that they had two attributes we just needed to refine — one, they never gave up; and secondly, that they could adapt.”
Sameer’s sensational hundred obviously was one of the prime topics at the news conference and he also said he played to his natural game.
“I was concentrating on playing well and scoring in the final and it helped,” Sameer said.
India-Pakistan’s political rivalry usually spills onto the cricket field and Sarfaraz revealed he had made it clear to his players not to make any lewd gestures in response to their opponents.
India avoided shaking hands – a gesture they have been maintaining since the men’s Asia Cup T20 in March this year – with their one of their players, Vaibhav Suryavanshi pointing shoes on his way back after getting out.
“The way India acted about the game was not good and their players’ behavior was also unethical,” he said. “But we accepted the victory, showing sportsman’s spirit.”
