Nawaz said that he will go around the country to find talented cricketers, and then discuss with the age-group selectors the profile of players the team will need for the 2026 Under-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
“The plan is very simple for the next two years,” he said. “We know what type of cricket the U-19 boys play all over the world. There’s been a lot of visibility. My first job would be to sit with the selectors, to see what are the [pieces of the] puzzles that match. What type of talent do we have to make a great team, that can win.
“We want to understand the talent from worldwide and try to put in all the benchmarks in our players and try to reach it in two years. That’s what we did before. We want to build a team in two years that can compare with any other country without any fear.”
Nawaz, however, highlighted that it takes a lot of time and effort to become a successful player at the senior level. Teenagers cannot always become superstars overnight. “We unearth a lot of talent in age-group cricket in countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. International cricket is so challenging that even if you are very talented at the ages of 18, 19 or 20, it doesn’t tell the story that you are going to be a superstar by the age of 25 or 30.
“Cricket is a lot more analytical than before; oppositions find you out very quickly. It is about the players being able to work their way out, to understand and rectify their game. You can’t be holding a technical or mental issue for too long. You have to get over it. BCB will look into it in the High Performance or higher age-group programmes where you give the players confidence to perform at higher stages.”