A world turned upside down, less predictable and more exciting

Conventional wisdom won’t be of much help if one tries to assess the favourites for the ICC’s junior World Cup. Where the senior g...

Conventional wisdom won’t be of much help if one tries to assess the favourites for the ICC’s junior World Cup. Where the senior game has a more or less fixed hierarchy, the world of junior cricket is quite topsy-turvy and follows its own pattern.

And that’s one reason why India coach Ventakesh Prasad doesn’t give much importance to the draw (India are grouped with Sri Lanka, Scotland and Namibia). ‘‘We are not concerned about the draw since anything can be expected from anyone in such a tournament,’’ he says, hinting about the fickle form of young teams. The Australians might be the only team to have the won this World Cup twice but they aren’t as overpowering or consistent as their seniors.

And Bangladesh, to mix animal metaphors, aren’t minnows but dark horses for this year’s event. That is proof of their focus on solid grassroots development instead of superficial work at the top level.

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Indeed, Asian countries have an overwhelming presence in this tournament’s history. Two of the last three Youth World Cup have won by teams from the sub-continent— India winning in 2000 and Pakistan in 2004. But the surprise package is Nepal, a non-entity at the senior level but a regular at the junior World Cup — the Colombo event will be their fourth. Coached by former Sri Lanka batsman Roy Dias, they have one of the most experienced squads in the tournament, with seven players from 2004.

And they aren’t around to merely make up the numbers; their track record includes wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh. And which team has has the most number of players with big league experience? Zimbabwe wins hands down: seven of the current squad have played at the first-class level and three of those have also played international matches. In all this, the West Indian juniors have failed to live up to the standards set by their seniors.

The islands have not produced results even close to what the seniors have achieved in the past. The best performance at this level has been a runners-up spot in 2004.

Curiously, and perhaps a pointer to the future, the West Indies’ biggest bowling weapon strength at this World Cup will be their spinners. The main wicket-takers on the current warm-up tour of Pakistan are spinners Shamarh Brooks and Rishi Bachan.

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• Australia failed to reach the Super League in the last edition and just some months back lost an away series 1-4 to India

• Bangladesh were the Plate winners in 2004 and last year demolished England 11-0 in a home series

• South Africa were fifth behind India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan at the Afro-Asian one-day tournament at Vizag last year

• India’s jrs have been consistent in this world cup: They wonin 2000 and reached the semis in 2002 and 2004

PM Modi releases special coin, stamp to mark 100 years of RSS

India3 hr ago

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh [RSS] had suffered at the hands of British and Nizams for its belief of ‘nation first’. He also said RSS members, including founder KB Hedgewar, had been jailed during the freedom struggle. Modi released a special commemorative postage stamp and a coin to mark the centenary of the RSS.

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