Pakistan U19 skipper Rohail Nazir has a bright future, says South Africa's Makhaya Ntini

The ICC U19 World Cup 2020 is about to get underway from January 17 and will see some of the best young talents showcasing their talents on the biggest stage of them all in South Africa. The Indian team is the defending champions and are led by Priyam Garg and all the teams will be looking forward to dethroning them and wrest the crown of world champions.

One of the strongest contenders to do so is the Pakistani side, which have a score to settle with their Indian counterparts, given that the Prithvi Shaw-led side had handed them a sound defeat in the previous edition of the tournament in New Zealand. Former South Africa fast bowler Makhaya Ntini, in his column for the International Cricket Council (ICC) website, singled out one such Pakistani player, who could be the highlight of the whole tournament.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how he performs”: Makhaya Ntini

Makhaya Ntini, the first black South African Test cricketer, praised the leadership qualities of Nazir while praising the talented lineup of the Green Army. “Pakistan, too, has a lot of exciting players and I’m looking forward to seeing how Rohail Nazir performs with the bat. As captain of his country, there will be some pressure on his shoulders but at 18, he’s already shown himself to be a very strong player and a leader too, both in the field and with the bat,” Ntini wrote in his column for the ICC.

“Rohail has already played first-class and List A cricket and was on a good run of form late in 2019, so it’ll be exciting to see how he goes against some world-class bowlers,” he further added. Nazir has featured in 10 first-class matches, where he has scored 620 runs, which includes a century and four fifties, at an average of 36.47. In 11 List A matches, Nazir has hustled up 471 runs, which includes two hundreds and two half-centuries, at an average of 47.10.

Nazir in T20s has played 17 matches, making 234 runs with one fifty to his name. The Pakistani team is scheduled to face Scotland in their first match of Group C, on January 19 at the North West University Oval, Potchefstroom.

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