Ton against Pak high point: Arjun

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 15

A month after he turned 18, Arjun Azad couldn’t have asked for a better gift. Azad was part of the Indian team that won the ACC U-19 Asia Cup Trophy by registering a five-run win over Bangladesh in the final in Columbo, Sri Lanka, on Saturday.

To make the victory sweeter, Azad was adjudged the Player of the Tournament. Azad scored a total of 202 runs, including 121 runs against Pakistan. He also scored a half-century against Kuwait. “The century against Pakistan was special. My Facebook wall was flooded with wishes,” said Azad, who reached city today.

“Moreover, it was a dream come true as I never expected to score a century against the arch-rivals. There was some low moments as well, especially when I was out for a duck, but as the tournament progressed it was a delightful experience,” he added.

Azad was selected to play for one of the zonal teams after he represented the India A team in the U-19 One-day series involving South Africa and Afghanistan apart from hosts India, earlier this year. “I would settle for nothing less than playing for the senior Indian team one day. I have been playing cricket for the last eight years and this is the first step towards my goal of playing for the senior team,” he said.

Azad had scored 250 runs in four matches, including a century and two half-centuries, for Chandigarh during the Punjab inter-district championship. He scored 240 runs in three matches during the U-23 inter-district tournament.

At the start, he wanted to be a leg-spinner, but shifted his focus to batting at the insistence of his coach Jitender Kumar. He started playing at St Solider Cricket Academy in Panchkula but shifted to Guru Nanak Public School (Sector 36) to train under coach Harminder Pannu and has been training there for the last five years.