Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Super display by our U-19 boys' that was published in Newsband

Super display by our U-19 boys

The Under-19 team should be prepared for the bigger stage in the Under-19 cricket World Cup at the Bay Oval in New Zealand. Prithvi Shaw’s boys, astutely coached by Rahul Dravid, maintained an unbeaten record through their three-week sojourn. After scoring a 100-run win against Australia, they went on to emphatically defeat Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In semi-final against Pakistan, India pocketed a facile 203-run victory. In the summit clash against Australia, Shaw’s boys cruised home in 38.5 overs with eight wickets to spare after Australia was bowled out for 216,

The batting troika of Shaw, Kalra and Shubman Gill, along with seamer Kamlesh Nagarkoti and spinner Anukul Roy, found a berth in the International Cricket Council’s Under-19 World Cup team. India has won the Under-19 World Cup on four occasions in 2000, 2008 and 2012 and now.. From among these champion sides, only a few like Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli graduated to the big stage. After the spectacular rise under the New Zealand skies, the Indian boys still have to earn and preserve their respective spots in the State outfits before earning the right to rub shoulders with Kohli and his men.

Anyway, it's a great victory for us. We have done a great thing. It was great to win the tournament without a loss. Hard work and determination of our boys has to be praised. We are on the right track to mend a team from the base itself. Our future is safe in the hands of young talents. We have to praise the decision of the BCCI to appoint Rahul Dravid as the coach of the U-19 squad. Dravid was crucial to enable these guys to lift this achievement. The way in which we defeated the Australia in the final is praiseworthy, chasing in the final with sheer confidence in the midst of bad weather was something that we never see even from the senior team. All best wishes to the future of Indian cricket team.

The success is all the more valuable because India won in alien conditions. Australia, closer to New Zealand, one would have thought, had better awareness of climate and pitch. But India trounced and won a great victory. This also shows that if younger players are made to play on alien and bouncy pitches, they may have better chance of adopting to pitches in South Africa, Australia or England after drafting into the national team in future.