Despite those wild celebrations and slogan-shouting around him, Pakistan coach Mansoor Rana takes time off to talk to the Indians. ‘‘That Chawla boy of yours, he’s in a different league.’’ The 17-year-old, with figures of 8.1-3-8-4 and 25 not out, was unbeaten and unbowed despite India’s defeat.Chawla came to the tournament with a reputation; he’d just helped UP win the Ranji Trophy final. When he returned to the pavilion today with his pads on, the joint-highest scorer in the final, that status remained unscathed.Rana endorsed this. ‘‘He has a smooth run-up, great control over flight, all possible variations and will certainly be among the seniors very soon.’’The signs are certainly there. He traveled with the Indian seniors during the Sri Lankan ODI series last year and is seen as an understudy to the ageing Anil Kumble. Indeed, after today’s show, Greg Chappell might make an addition to his Vision 2007. It’s a possibility Indian coach Venkatesh Prasad doesn’t dispute. ‘‘The other performers here can be labeled as ‘finds’ but Chawla is a spinner with proven potential,’’ he says.His bowling today re-emphasised the fact that he has skills for the big league but his 82-minute stay with the bat after the spectacular Indian collapse showed that he also has big-match temperament.Just before the final with 9 wickets from five games he wasn’t quite excited by his show at Colombo. ‘‘I should have taken more wickets and made more runs,’’ he had said.He certainly would have had the pacers and batsmen been less successful in the tournament.Today the pacers faltered and so did the openers but both times Chawla stood up in times of crisis.
