Aaqib Javed arrives in New Zealand today (Thursday) as a “very satisfied” head coach after admitting the players have exceeded expectations in their training preparation in Dubai ahead of the World Cup.
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Javed and his 15-man squad left Abu Dhabi Airport for New Zealand yesterday (Wednesday), three weeks ahead of their opening World Cup match against Zimbabwe on February 19 in Nelson.
With only 12 months to prepare for the prestigious tournament, the 42-year-old insists the UAE squad are now in the right shape – both physically and mentally. “I’m the most satisfied person because we achieved a few targets.
“Fitness wise, fielding, bowling and batting, I think they’re all covered,” said Javed.
“I think we are actually in control and slightly above than what we have already targeted.
“When we first started, our yo-yo test score on average was 14 and now it’s 18 so it’s a huge improvement. And in fielding there were no more then 20 or 25 per cent who could dive and slide but now all of them can dive and slide.”
The World Cup will be another ICC tournament that Javed can add to his CV, either as a player, which he won in 1992 or as a coach. And he will approach the tournament just as he did for his previous events.
He said: “What I’ve learnt is that there are ups and downs and don’t over try because when people say ‘do you have special preparations for the World Cup?’, I say ‘no, it’s just another game’.