Nearly six months down the line, the Indian Under 19 team will be approaching the World Cup hosted by New Zealand. In such circumstances, it falls within the obvious reasoning to keep a tab on the progression of our Indian Colts. Hence in the process of doing so, the Indian contingent seems to be far ahead in their path to become one of the favourites in the tournament.
Chewing over the recently concluded stint of Indian under-19 squad against the hosts England, where they literally blanked their English adversary with a 7-0 victory in spite of experiencing such tough conditions. They displayed their dominant stroll over the business these days. In accordance with the former Indian batsman WV Raman, who did have an upper hand in serving as Indian coach in the youth series, the team has been in their purple patches these days especially considering the cricketers of their age category from other countries.
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Raman through his own application as the batting coach of National Cricket Academy unleashed his entire batting attributions towards building up this dominating young Indian side which significantly left a big mark on the junior cricket system of the country. ?The junior cricketing structure in India is probably the best in the world. It also includes the Under-16 category. These boys get to play numerous matches and that too at very good venues. They are well supported by the system.Thus, these players are definitely at an advantage as compared to the boys in the same age group from other countries,? Raman told TOI on Sunday.
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Raman praising the provision of having applauded with the existence of offseason camps at the junior level hinted the same to be playing a key role in nurturing talents. ?Most of them start playing for the state Under-16 or zonal sides. Their skills are developed in the off-season camps.They not only gain experience playing a lot of matches but these camps help them repeat their skills more often and gain proficiency. That?s why these boys are far superior to those from the other countries,? added the 52-year-old.
Raman expressed the triumphant walk over England could be reckoned as their capability to adapt the situation and to prioritise levelling up their standards during the crunch moments. Skipper Prithvi Shaw, all-rounder Abhishek Sharma, Pacers Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi, Keeper Harvik Desai and quite a few others stood up when it mattered.
The coach was particularly quite fascinated by the fearlessness of young Mumbai batsman Shaw. ?Prithvi is fearless, dominating and confident. He has a special ability to get runs quickly. In another two years, he will find out a way on how to be aggressive consistently for longer periods,? Raman added.
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Being a team of such stature winning all the games and being walked out as an unbeaten side definitely displayed the depth of the side. ?If you go abroad, play under different conditions and end up winning all the games in all formats, it?s an indication that the current crop of boys is good at adapting to different conditions and formats.
?The heartening thing is it wasn?t just about a couple of individual performances. Our bowlers chipped in with the bat under pressure, guys who flew in for the ODIs hit the mark straight away under pressure moments. That was the highlight of the tour for me,? he concluded with pride.