KARACHI: A 21-member Pakistan squad, led by Jahanzaib Tiwana, will leave for Dubai today on Tuesday compete in the ICC Academy Physically Disabled T20 International Cricket Tournament.

Pakistan will begin their campaign with a round game against England on Thursday at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Thursday after having a practice session at the same venue on Wednesday afternoon.

Addressing a media conference at the PCB Regional Academy in National Stadium on Monday, Jahanzeb vowed to live to the expectations of the nation.

“I am looking forward and took the challenges this ICC Academy tournament offers. As skipper, I am very confident that our team will give positive results,” Jahanzeb observed.

“The conditions in Dubai will be hot or less similar to what we find here in Karachi. But given the preparations we put in this time, I’m sure we have the potential to win the trophy after we lost the final against England in Bangladesh last time.”

Head coach Sabih Azhar said that his players have prepared well for the competition during the short camp in Karachi.

“We will play the positive cricket to achieve good results. Undoubtedly, the lads have trained well over the few days,” Sabih told reporters. “We would also like to offer our gratitude to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) and PDCA president Saleem Karim for the financial and technical support.”

The tournament was originally scheduled to be played between five countries but both India and Afghanistan have withdrawn due to financial issues.

The organisers have now opted to stage the stage on a double league round-robin basis with Pakistan, holders England and Bangladesh playing against each twice before the top two teams qualify for the final.

According to the revised schedule, England will meet Bangladesh in the opening fixture at the ICC Academy on Thursday before the reigning champions play Pakistan the same day.

Friday’s matches will be staged at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium with Pakistan playing Bangladesh in the first game and the latter meeting England the same day.

Sharjah Cricket Stadium will be the venue for the last two league-round encounters on Saturday with Pakistan taking Bangladesh first before facing England in the last fixture.

The final will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium next Monday (Oct 24).

Squad: Jahanzeb Tiwana (captain), Nihar Alam (vice-captain), Hasnain Alam, Rao Javed, Matloob Qureshi, Danish Ahmed, Rehan Ghani, Abdullah Ejaz, Zubair Saleem, Fayyaz Ahmed, Wajid Alam, Adil Abbasi, Sher Ali, Mohammad Shahbaz, Farhan Saeed.

Officials: Amiruddin Ansari (team manager), Sabih Azhar (head coach), Mohammad Javed (assistant coach), Noman Palekar (team doctor), Mohammad Nizam (media manager), Shakir Khilji (video analyst).

Published in Dawn October 18th, 2016