3 wins in VinooMankand Trophy boasted morale of JK U-19 team: Head coach

Srinagar, Oct 23: Jammu and Kashmir U-19 team seems to be full of confidence and their morale is very high” after registering three back to back wins in VinooMankand Trophy 2018-19, head coach Howaid Hamid said.

“Registering three consecutive wins boosted the morale of boys and they are very much positive for the upcoming tournament. We were not having enough time for preparation as the boys got only ten days to practice and prepare themselves for the tourney, he said.

Hamid said boys worked very hard to improve their game in the limited time. “The supporting staff also played a vital role to improve the technicalities of the players and worked on their fitness level besides improved the fielding of the team.”

Earlier, JK team faced three defeats on the trot, minimizing the chances of the team to qualify for the second round. However, the team made a strong comeback and sealed three victories on a row though the team couldn’t qualify for the second round and the team is knocked out from the VinooMankand Trophy One Day Limited Overs Zonal League 2018-19 on Friday last week.

“The way team bounced back and won three matches on the trot made good chances for the team to qualify for the second round but Rajasthan made it early and won the match against Himachal and made it to the second round. Losing three back to back games made us dependent,” he said.

J&K played seven matches in VinooMankand Trophy 2018-19, in which it lost four games and won three games. The team faced three consecutive defeats against Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra and Himachal respectively.

However, the team made three consecutive victories in the tourney against Kerala, Goa and Odisha respectively. But in the last game of the campaign, JK U-19 team was trounced with heavy margin of 133 runs thus lost fourth game out of seven.

Hamid said the team played “exceptionally well” in all the facets of the game except in the last match against Rajasthan.

“Our bowlers did a wonderful job throughout the tourney. They bowled in discipline and in good line and length, playing a pivotal role in dominating three games. The matches we lost were also very close ones except the matches against Himachal and Rajasthan,” he says.

Talking about the batting department, Howaid says that batting is the strength of the team which they proved in the campaign.

“Overall our batting has remained on mark in the tourney. Our top order played really well and everyone worked hard to support the team, whether they scored 20 or 30 runs. QamranIqbal and JiyadNazir have scored lots of runs. However, our middle order couldn’t click on time due to which the team struggled,” he said.

Hamid revealed that QamranIqbal, an Indian level cricketer, will likely represent U-19 India team and has bright chances to play in the next U-19 Cricket World Cup 2020.

“Qamran is an exceptional batsman, who caught the eyeballs of Indian selectors and probably he will be inducted in U-19 Indian team, which is on cards,” Coach Howaid Hamid reveals.

Pertinently, Qamran has remained one of the successful batsmen while amassing 359 runs in seven matches of the VinooMankand Trophy 2018-19, which include two graceful tons and two half-centuries respectively.