Imad Wasim to lead Northern team in National T20 Cup

ISLAMABAD, Oct 10 (APP):All-rounder Imad Wasim would lead the Northern side in the upcoming National Twenty20 Cup 2019, scheduled to take place at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad from October 13 to 24.

The six cricket association sides would take place in a single-league format, with the top four sides featuring in the October 23 semi-finals. The final of the National T20 Cup would be played on October 24.
Briefing to media persons at Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi on Thursday, Northern team head coach Muhammad Waseem announced the squad for the T20 tournament. “Imad would lead the Northern side while Umar Amin will be his deputy,” he added.

He said Shaheen Afridi’s inclusion in the squad was tentative due to his injury. “After Afridi’s report comes in a day or two, we would know whether Afridi would be available for the tournament or not,” he said.

Waseem said Sohail Tanveer’s presence in the squad would help youngsters to learn from him, as he had been playing T20 leagues all around the world. “Haider Ali and Musa Khan who have come up from the Under19 cricket, are talented upcoming players,” he said and added wicket-keeper batsman
Rohail Nazir also had a bright future ahead.

He said this tournament would provide a perfect chance to performing players to make a breakthrough in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) squads and national team for the series against Australia. “The timing for holding this T20 tournament was perfect as we have the Australian series coming up,” he said.

Waseem was of the view that the T20 tournament would provide players the opportunity to compete best against the best and would also help coaches in finding the backup for national team players. “The T20 Cup would also help spinner Shadab Khan to prove his mettle as his performance had gone down
after his comeback from illness,” he said.

Wasim lauded players Imad, Umar, Muhammad Nawaz, Harris Rauf and Muhammad Amir, saying the Northern side is a combination of seniors and young blood.

“We have a balanced and strong team for the T20 tournament,” he said and added Ali Imran and Naveed Malik were the white ball specialists.

To a question about Pakistan team’s poor performance against a second string Sri Lankan side who whitewashed them 3-0 in the Twenty20 home series, Waseem said Sri Lanka team had nothing to lose that was why they performed better. “We should focus on our team and must not get judgmental
on things so quickly,” he said.

The Northern squad includes Imad Wasim, Umar Amin, Sohail Tanveer, Hammad Azam, Asif Ali, Muhammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Haider Ali, Sohail Akhtar, Rohail Nazir, Harris Rauf, Musa Khan, Zaid Alam, Ali Imran and Naveed Malik.