The Pakistan Under-19 cricket team\u2019s Asia Cup triumph was driven by a fearless brand of cricket and strong team unity, head coach Shahid Anwar said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Addressing a press conference at a local hotel alongside team mentor Sarfaraz Ahmed, captain Farhan Yousaf and players Sameer Minhas and Abdul Subhan, Anwar reflected on the team\u2019s preparation and journey to the title.<\/p>\n
Pakistan, led by Farhan Yousaf, defeated arch-rivals India in the final on Sunday with a commanding performance.
\nAnwar said the team\u2019s campaign began on June 17, 2025, when an initial pool of 70 players was selected. \u201cEach player was given four matches to prove himself. After this phase, they returned to their respective regions. From the outset, our focus was on unity, faith and discipline,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that the management emphasized collective responsibility and a clear objective. \u201cWe decided to work as one unit. We didn\u2019t just plan to win matches, we planned to win the trophy. The boys were encouraged to play fearless cricket, not careless cricket, and the results are there for everyone to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the management took responsibility for any potential setbacks, allowing players to perform freely. \u201cThe players were told that defeat would be the management\u2019s responsibility, while victory would belong to them. Full support was provided at all times, and no player\u2019s morale was allowed to drop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Team mentor Sarfaraz Ahmed said the squad was later received by the Prime Minister, who announced a cash reward of Rs10 million for each player. \u201cWe hope this team continues to win trophies and bring pride to the country,\u201d he said, expressing confidence in the players\u2019 future.<\/p>\n
Sarfaraz described the Asia Cup success as the outcome of a complete and structured process. \u201cThe credit goes entirely to the players. The coaches worked tirelessly with the boys, and the Pakistan Cricket Board remains fully focused on junior cricket,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also criticized India\u2019s on-field conduct during the final, calling it inappropriate. \u201cCricket demands sportsmanship. We celebrated our victory with respect. Whatever India did was their own action, but ethical behavior should always be upheld,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Batter Sameer Minhas said Pakistan adopted an aggressive approach against India. \u201cI planned to play a solid innings. There was no pressure in any match against India; my focus was only on playing my best cricket,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Captain Farhan Yousaf said the team entered the final with a clear and confident mindset. \u201cThis victory belongs to us as a team. We played aggressive cricket, and no one\u2019s morale was low. Our objective was clear\u2014we wanted to win the final,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Farhan added that the team\u2019s focus has now shifted to the ICC Under-19 World Cup, with preparations set to begin in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Pakistan Under-19 cricket team\u2019s Asia Cup triumph was driven by a fearless brand of cricket and strong team unity, head coach Shahid Anwar said on Monday. Addressing a press conference at a local hotel alongside team mentor Sarfaraz Ahmed, captain Farhan Yousaf and players Sameer Minhas and Abdul Subhan, Anwar reflected on the team\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":91406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91407,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91395\/revisions\/91407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}