Under-19 skipper confident of win

Humaira Tasneem, a Grade XI student of the Delhi Private School, will lead the UAE in the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19 Women's Cup to be played in Kuwait from February 1 to 10. Speaking to Gulf News, Tasneem, who is an off-spinner and a consistent batswoman, said: "We have a good team with a good variety of bowlers and some fine batswomen. We have a good chance to win this tournament." Good spinners Tasneem's confidence emerges from the fact that the team has trained hard for the tournament. "We had training for nearly two months. We all improved a lot under the coaching of Kalpana Venkatchar (former Indian player and coach). Even our fielding and stamina have also improved considerably," said Tasneem, who is also a fine basketball player. When asked what the strong point of her team is, Tasneem said: "Though we have very good bowlers, especially spinners and medium pacers, some of our batswomen are good hitters. The matches in Kuwait are of 25-over format, and hence this would become handy," she said. The ten-day event is being contested by China, Iran, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Kuwait and UAE. The teams have been divided into two groups with the UAE in Group A along with Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand and China. "The coaching we had and training sessions were so good that overall we are well prepared for this tournament," said Tasneem. The team Humaira Tasneem (captain) Samiya Salim (vice-captain), Shambhavi Gupta, Petule Shalom Nadar, Aisha NaushadKhan, Spoorthy Prakash, Kyna Astrid Vedhasinghe, Alia Ushan Packeer Ally, Bonfilia Felicia Pereira, Esha Elizabeth James, Jane Abraham, Nashra Karim Siddiqui, Reem Shakeel Nadeem, Shivani Shrikant Sathe. Reserve players: Pritam Kumari, Azaa Naaz, Daniella Sinead Coach: Kalpana Venkatchar, Manager: Chaitrali Deepak Kalgutkar.