U-19 World Cup: India so far so good, now for the better

Rahul Dravid urges boys to produce more of same that got India to the U-19 World Cup semis where they face Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka will be only the second full member team India face in the U-19 World Cup. (Source: ICC)

No fiery speeches were made by coach Rahul Dravid, no soul-stirring battle cry escaped captain Ishan Kishan’s throat. The mood at the India Under-19 team meeting on the eve of their World Cup semifinal against Sri Lanka was rather reflective. In his typically understated manner, Dravid told the Indian team not to try anything different in the big match, but play the way they have in the tournament: in a relaxed and confident manner.

At the meeting, there was a bit of inspirational stuff, too — a video. But it didn’t feature Kapil’s Devils at Lord’s balcony, or Sachin Tendulkar on the shoulders of his teammates at the Wankhede, or even Virat Kohli’s Class of 2008 being paraded in an open-top bus with gaudy garlands around their necks. It was a brief montage of this very team’s own highs in the ongoing World Cup. It showed, among other things, a few of the sixes hit by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan, some of the wickets taken by Avesh Khan, and direct hits and catches. The point of this video, too, was to make the players realise that what they have done was good, and more of the same was expected of them.

However, it must be evident in that montage that a majority of those performances have come against three minnows: Ireland, Nepal and Namibia. The only full member team that they have faced so far is New Zealand. Basically, Australia pulling out of the World Cup meant India’s passage to the knockouts had become a cakewalk. Then Namibia caused the upset of the event by beating South Africa and setting up a quarterfinal clash against India, to whom they lost by 197 runs. Sri Lanka, therefore, will likely be a stiffer test.

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Dravid, however, underplayed any fears of India being undercooked. “I think we have played pretty convincingly,” he said at a pre-match presser on Monday. “We played New Zealand, and of course Nepal in these conditions are quite a good side as we saw the other day against Bangladesh. They ran Bangladesh pretty close. Our lead-up into this tournament has been very, very good. We played three matches against the Board President’s XI which had a lot of senior India boys. We played three tough games against them in Mumbai. We played against Sri Lanka and England in December, and we played against Afghanistan and Bangladesh in Kolkata. We have had some tough games in the last three games. We feel we are ready and we can bring our A game to the party tomorrow.”

Auction on mind

The semifinal comes on the back of the IPL 2016 auction. Five players from the team were picked in the auction — and made between Rs 10 lakh to 1.9 crore — while three more who were in the fray weren’t. Interestingly, in the aforementioned montage, the background score was, apparently, the ‘Money in the Bank’ theme song from WWE. So, did the auction distract the players?

“IPL is a reality for lot of our Indian cricketers. The fact is that the IPL auction happens every year. There’s no point for us kidding ourselves in believing that they weren’t thinking about it, and weren’t hoping to be picked,” Dravid said. “It is just human nature. We spoke about it before and after the auction. There’s no issue but we have addressed it as, yes, it is a factor and can be a distraction. It is over and done with. Their main focus is this World Cup, and they have been very good about it. We have a pretty good bunch, we played with a lot of energy in the game. We have been together now for three months. There’s a good vibe. Everyone is keen to do well.”

And how keen is Dravid himself to win a World Cup as a coach, a trophy he couldn’t win in his illustrious career as a player?

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“I don’t really compare the two things. I believe it is a player’s team, and not really a coach’s team. I have been a player long enough to know a coach can have only a certain amount of impact on a team. It is really up to the players. It is their World Cup, their performances and theirs to win and lose. We are there to help them as coaches and support them in their journey as cricketers. I don’t really compare the two and I am not trying to win a World Cup because I haven’t won as a player. I think it has no relevance, really.”

India vs Sri Lanka (1st Semi-final): Star Sports 1 & 3, 8:00 am onwards

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