Dan D’Souza does it for the UAE in Malaysia

Abu Dhabi: After a convincing performance at the Asian Cricket Council under-19 Elite Cup in Malaysia, Player of the Tournament Dan D’Souza is certain the UAE can give stronger teams a tough time in the U-19 World Cup next year.

The UAE will be hosting the mega event in February 2014 and despite having lost in the final against Afghanistan in Malaysia, they still qualify as host nation.

“This tournament really gave us a lot of confidence and most importantly self-belief that we can take on bigger teams,” D’Souza told XPRESS.

“We now know the areas we have to work and focus on. We have done well in Malaysia and that gave us a chance to test ourselves and get to know where we stand,” he added.

The UAE showed lot of character losing only to Afghanistan in group stage and then in final. D’Souza was exceptional with both ball and bat that earned him player of the tournament award.

“It was a good feeling. It was a big tournament which had lot of good players and being the best among them makes you feel great.

“It was disappointing to lose out in the final after having done so well throughout the tournament. But we chose to take the positives from it and work harder for the bigger task we have next year,” said the 18-year-old student of British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi.

D’Souza scored a total of 299 runs in the tournament with the highest being 79 against Hong Kong. He also bagged a total of nine wickets with the best coming against Nepal in the semi-finals where he claimed four. His vital 171-run partnership with Shorye Chopra, who scored a superb 114 against Nepal, was another highlight.

“I rate the innings I played against Hong Kong among the best. Our team needed me and I was happy to live up to the expectations. My teammates also played around me which was a great support,” said D’Souza, a product of the Zayed Cricket Academy.

more responsibilities

“It was more of a mental sort of a thing. We were better prepared but probably the pressure of playing against Afghanistan took its toll. But we have understood the areas we have to work on and we will try hard to overcome them,” he said referring to the loss in the final.

The UAE have another eight months to prepare for the World Cup and D’Souza felt the team has the quality to stage some big upsets.

“We are confident of putting a good show. We can pull off some upsets since we have a good team. We have eight to nine months with us and we will train hard for it,” he said, thanking coach Aaqib Javed’s contribution to the success.

“He has a lot of confidence in us. He gave us more responsibilities since he knew we were capable. Putting that belief in us itself plays a huge role,” he added .

D’Souza said he would continue performing to the best of his abilities and make it to the senior team some day. “My goal is to represent my country and obviously we have the big tournament early next year. That will be my immediate focus but I would love to play for the senior national team one day,” he said.