Newaz targets U-19 World Cup title

Although Bangladesh had the potential to clinch the 2016 ICC Under-19 World Cup title, the biggest achievement for the young Tigers, under the leadership of Mehedi Hasan Miraz, was a third-place finish in that tournament two years ago at home.

Bangladesh finished fifth in the previous edition held in New Zealand earlier this year and now the newly appointed coach for the under-19 team, Naveed Newaz, is looking beyond the tournament with plans to field a totally new set of cricketers in the upcoming 2020 ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.

"Every team that plays in the World Cup wants to win it and that's how we are gauging the strength of our team. I think it's possible to do that. The boys have the skill but the greatest challenge is how to prepare them to play in overseas conditions. Just like last time, when they played in New Zealand, which was in very different to conditions than what we have here. And this time we are playing is South Africa," Newaz told reporters after a training session at the National Academy ground in Mirpur yesterday.

The former Sri Lankan cricketer has already taken charge of the team and worked with them in Khulna last week, where the youths took part in a three-match series against the High Performance team.

The 44-year-old coach previously worked with the Sri Lanka under-19 team for three World Cup campaigns from 2010 to 2014 with the likes of Danushka Gunatilaka, Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Dhananjaya De Silva playing under his wing in that period.

"Your short term planning is that you want to win the World Cup and in the long run you want to see how we can produce more players for the nation team. That was my plan while I was the under-19 coach in Sri Lanka and I hope to work like that this time as well," he said.