U-19 World Cup: India colts ready to take first step of a long journey

Dravid set the tone for the tournament, saying he prefers to look at it as an opportunity to grow rather than a must-win event. “My message to them has to focus on actually improving, getting better, seeing this as an opportunity to learn and grow as a cricketer, to see this World Cup as another exposure they are getting at a very young age. They are lucky to get this at a young age. That’s all I tell them about: it is just one step in their journey hopefully as cricketers. I mean nobody wants to end up being just an Under-19 India cricketer. That is not the aspiration of anybody in that dressing room we are sitting.”

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Ambition is indeed higher than just representing India in a youth World Cup. Sometime last month, the household of Arman Jaffer, who hit three double hundreds to break into the U-19 national squad, was agog with ambition and dream. “Mein lamba soch rahan hoon, mujhe bada India k liye khelna hai”. There was a lovely little moment around the time he said those words. His father Kalim, a coach and cricket-nut, interrupted to say: “Tera jersey size medium boloon? Voh log pooch rahen hain. Kal tumhe Bangalore k nikalna hai, camp hai and then…”

The boy listened intensely, and withdrew into a personal world. A world where ambition, dream, desire, first big step towards something bigger collide. The father broke the reverie by prompting him for the size.

With all these potential stomach-knot moments churning at this stage of the young lives, it can only be good that someone as grounded as Dravid is their mentor. “I always keep reminding them there are enough examples of people who go on to play India Under-19 but don’t go on to represent India. Conversely there are very good examples of people who have played at this level and then actually gone on to represent India. The important thing you have to go on from here score runs in first-class cricket, score runs in List A games and then get the recognition from the selectors.”

Spin challenge

As far as the World Cup is concerned, it could well come down to how Indian batsmen play spin on those Bangladesh pitches. When he was the coach of India A for a couple of series late last year, Dravid had talked about the need to improve the batting against spin bowling. He says the nature of the tracks that the U-19 team have played on makes it difficult for him to judge the teenager’s skills against spin but said that he saw that there was a scope for improvement. “While I wouldn’t say it is a weakness, it is an area I have stressed on because going into the World Cup in Bangladesh we might not get 300-plus wickets. It might be wickets where the games might be 240, 250-plus. We got those kind of games in Kolkata. Luckily in Sri Lanka as well the wickets were a bit slower. We adapted well. We rotated the strike. So, while it’s not a weakness, it’s an area of improvement.”

The nature of the beast of U-19 circuit is that it flickers to life only near World Cup events, which is held every two years. Subsequently, there is no real cricketing action in the year without the big tournament. It’s something that Dravid wants to be changed. “We should have more cricket tours, series and tournaments. The last year’s team, for example, didn’t get to play much cricket at all.”

This World Cup year was obviously different. Under Dravid, the team has been practising for two months, playing series against visiting teams like Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and have travelled to Sri Lanka for a tour. The time period allowed Dravid, and selectors, to prune the 36-member probables list to a squad of 15. Different captains too were tried out before they settled on Ishan for now. “We are covered in all departments. We have got good fast bowlers. We have got very good spinners. We have got all-rounders. We bat deep. We bat upto eight. So we have got it all covered. It is about executing our skills and under pressure the boys performing,” Dravid said.

Finally, Dravid summed up his philosphy for the tournament and what he is looking for from this team.

“ Winning the Under 19 World Cups is honestly not the be-all and end-all of anything. In the end I will be more happy if some of these guys go on and play for India and represent India. That should be their aim and real aspiration.”