“I’d have Alzari Joseph in my next Test squad. Even if it’s not to play but just to gain experience,” tweeted Ian Bishop, missing an ‘r’ in the name ‘Alzarri’ but hitting the nail on its head after the 19-year-old Antiguan had taken four wickets and bowled a 147 kmph delivery against Zimbabwe. Before the Under-19 World Cup got underway, the talk was who will be the Kagiso Rabada of this edition. Joseph answered that question emphatically with 13 wickets and a pace-bounce combination that mortified batsmen. If in a developmental tournament, if the six-feet-four bowler looks like a finished product, that’s because he is, having taken 17 wickets in five first-class matches, his scalps including seasoned Test cricketers. [related-post] His reputation preceded him on Saturday. Many a question directed at India captain Ishan Kishan on the match eve were about the threat Joseph would bring to the table on Sunday. “Most of us who are batting in the top order play domestic cricket back in India. We face senior fast bowlers in first-class cricket,” he said. “We have played 140 kph pacers in domestic matches. In Ranji, they bowl. (Ashok) Dinda bhai ko khelte hain hum jab East Zone ka match hota hai (I play Ashok Dinda when playing east zone matches). More than pace, it is how we handle.” The Indians didn’t handle him well. You could sense nervous excitement in the air as Ishan and Rishabh Pant walked out after being put in to bat. The final match of the tournament, pressure game, teenage players. Something had to crack. Pant did, in a most unexpected fashion. He got stumped, and stumped off the fastest bowler of the tournament. After the previous ball had whizzed past his blade, Pant leaned forward and left alone a back-of-a-length delivery by Alzarri Joseph. So far so good, but in the process, he drifted out of the crease a bit. Wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach showed the presence of mind to take a sly shy at the stumps. Pant couldn’t believe it and had to walk off. On a pitch that had a bit of juice early on, Joseph was nigh unplayable. He didn’t hit top gear, but was bowling consistently at 138-140 kmph and getting the ball to rise disconcertingly. No.3 Anmolpreet Singh was done in by one that rose sharply, while Ishan was beaten by Joseph’s pace and done in by an umpiring blunder — declared lbw when the ball had pitched outside leg. India’s top-order had been blown away. The dug-out was shaken, and it was apparent as Sarfaraz Khan hadn’t been sent in at his No.4 position. He came after Ishan’s wicket, when the team was reduced to 27 for three after seven overs — only 14 of which came off the bat. To his credit, India’s best batsman in the tournament, Sarfaraz handled Joseph alright. He even exquisitely cover-drove him for four to soothe a few nerves in the dug-out. But this West Indies pace attack is more than just about Joseph. It has the relentlessness of the West Indies’ attacks of the 70s and 80s. If you escape one, the other is going to get you. At the other end, Chemar Holder was settling into a nice rhythm. It’s interesting that Holder had not played a Youth ODI before the Under-19 World Cup quarterfinal against Pakistan on Monday. The lanky Barbadian, who turns 18 next month, wasn’t warming the bench either. He was in the Caribbean, playing the domestic 50-over tournament. Holder wasn’t in the original scheme of things for the U-19 World Cup. When the trials were going on last year, the paceman wasn’t performing at his peak.Three wickets in four matches meant there was no place for him. The team came to Bangladesh last month for a three-match preparatory series, while Holder went on to make his List A debut. While the junior national team was getting thrashed by Bangladesh, Holder took a five-wicket haul for Combined Campuses and Colleges team against Windward Islands, which had in their ranks the likes of Johnson Charles and Devon Smith, West Indies internationals. But there was no way the junior team could call up Holder now. Or was there? “I got a phone call, saying that someone is hurt and I was to replace him. It was a big news,” Holder, who was called up as cover for left-arm pacer Obed McCoy, told a group of journalists after the Pakistan match. “I was happy but shocked as well.” The teenager boarded the flight all alone, flew halfway across the world and joined the team two days before its quarterfinal clash. The team management wanted him to rest but he wanted to practice. And he hit his straps right away, reducing Pakistan to 14/2 inside six overs. In the next match, the semifinal against Bangladesh, he bowled better than Joseph and took two wickets for 36 runs in 10 overs. He isn’t express fast like Joseph, but has been clocking 135-138 on an average while hitting beautiful lengths. In one over, he had Sarfaraz ducking and hopping and getting smacked on the gloves, for which the batsman even needed medical attention. However, Sarfaraz showed there’s big heart underneath the BCCI crest on his chest. Sarfaraz soldiered on and looked to have forged something of a partnership with Mahipal Lomror when Holder struck. He drew Lomror out with a fuller one but got to get the ball shape away just enough to take the left-hander’s outside edge. India would never recover from here, even though Sarfaraz would go on to make a half-century. Holder finished with figures of 10-2-20-1 — six of those 20 runs came as wides. Joseph and Holder finished their quota by the 32nd over. After that Ryan John, Shamar Springer and Keemo Paul finished the job. “I don’t know if West Indies would have won the tournament without the acquisition of Chemar Holder to partner Joseph. If it is Joseph alone, you feel a sense of release at the other end. But once they realise that Holder was offering nothing for release, it became that difficult in the first 10-12 overs. And, the other guys fed off from that. It was one of the key points,” Bishop later said. “We don’t have the volume of bowlers and batsmen in the past, but I think we have enough talent and these guys have proved that it needs to be harnessed.”
