CHENNAI: Four months to their first Under-19 World Cup match — September 14, leave alone a team, India didn’t even have a junior selection committee. With pandemic bringing all sports events in the country to halt, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), could not even host the age-group tournaments, keeping the players’ safety in mind.
As the second wave toned down, at the first available opportunity, despite the risk factor involved — vaccines were not opened for those under 18 — the BCCI slotted the Vinoo Mankad Trophy (VMT), which set the ball rolling for the Under-19 World Cup in the Caribbean.
As Dinesh Bana hit James Sales for consecutive sixes to bring home the junior World Cup title, they were the envy of the world. India’s talent pool, as deep as the Mariana Trench, is only increasing.
Given the competition in the senior national side, the chances of someone from Yash Dhull’s team making the jump immediately like Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill looks far-fetched. But, like all of those, this team too is beaming with exciting talents.
Dhull, Shaik Rasheed, Raj Bawa, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravikumar could all become household names. With the IPL auctions less than a week away, there is a chance some may become millionaires by next Sunday.
This U-19 World Cup was not just about these promising talents maintaining India’s stranglehold in the competition. It was about how they did it. From the time the BCCI placed Dav Whatmore in charge of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), which has been the umbrella for U-19 teams, to now VVS Laxman (the present head of NCA) a lot has been streamlined. The talent pool, thanks to age-group cricket, continues to flow without roadblocks.
However, unlike the past few batches, the Class of 2022 have had the least time to prepare. The BCCI, and the stakeholders knew they were running out of time.
For nearly 18 months, there was no junior cricket. With exposure trips ruled out because of pandemic, all that the selectors had was to depend on Vinoo Mankad Trophy performances. It helped them identify a pool of 90 players, who featured in the Challenger Trophy.
“The task ahead of us was enormous,” S Sharath, the chairman of the junior selection panel, told Express.
“None of the boys had played for nearly 18 months, so we were racing against time to find the combination. We had the talent, but to put them together as a team was the challenging thing. We’d only three tournaments to pick a squad, which will then play together at the Asia Cup before the World Cup to understand and gel together.”
While the Challenger Trophy helped them identify those like Bana, the tri-series held in Kolkata involving India A, India B and Bangladesh proved game-changing. The Bangladesh U-19 side won the tournament, beating both Indian sides in all the four matches they played, which, in hindsight, happened to be a reality check.
In the camp which followed soon after at the NCA, the selectors, Laxman, head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar (who was dealing with a personal situation), bowling coach Sairaj Bahutle identified the holes to plug. The end result was to stock up the team with multi-dimensional players and take them to the Caribbean.
“We had good batters, but there were also good all-rounders who bowled pace and spin. Not many teams would have that luxury. And, we also picked six players from Haryana and Maharashtra (the winners and runners-up in VMT), because they would have dealt with different situations. In Yash Dhull, Shaik Rasheed, we had two good batters. So, once we found the combination, we knew there was a team that is going to fight till the last ball,” Sharath said.
While the Asia Cup title proved to be a timely confidence booster, India were dealt with a huge blow during the World Cup. After the first match against South Africa, five players were infected with Covid, meaning they took the field against Ireland and Uganda with only 12 players. What was also quite telling was there were no panic reactions.
Instead, the selectors and coaches got into a hurdle, five replacements were sent immediately, but all the players recovered in time for the semifinals against Bangladesh. That they had a calm and able Laxman around in the Caribbean too helped a great deal, especially when few players were believed to have panicked after contracting the virus.
“They won the Asia Cup and the preparation to this World Cup was fantastic. But, in the middle of this tournament, we all know what happened to the boys (Covid), but to show that kind of resilience and positive attitude was just exemplary. Unfortunately, over the last two years, because of Covid, they didnt't play any tournament and that’s why I think this win is very special,” Laxman said.
Since Mohammed Kaif led India to its first U-19 title in 2000, India have won five titles and have been runners-up thrice. Somehow, there has been only one global title for the senior side in this century.
Unless this translates into the senior level, each time India comes back empty handed for global events, it will be seen as a failure.