World Cup

Can the India Under-19 batch of 2024 join the prestigious class of 2000, 2008, 2012, 2018 and 2022?

Earlier this week, a young man from Karnataka grabbed the consciousness of the average Indian cricket fan, upstaging even Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Not yet 19, Prakhar Chaturvedi ripped the record books to shreds, scoring a monumental unbeaten 404 in the final of the all-India Under-19 tournament for the Cooch Behar Trophy. That his exploits came in the title clash, and against Mumbai who received a dose of their own medicine, brought it into starker focus.

Chaturvedi might be the current Under-19 flavour, but don’t be surprised if more names grab the limelight in the next three weeks. Names like Uday Saharan. Arshin Kulkarni. Aravelly Avinash. Musheer Khan. Raj Limbani. Saumy Pandey.

These are among the young men tasked with leading India’s charge at the Under-19 World Cup, starting in South Africa today (January 19). Saharan is the skipper, Kulkarni and Avinash have already bagged IPL contracts, the others have gradually made their presence felt over the last few months, ready to take on the world even as Chaturvedi, who missed out on World Cup selection, eyes a graduation to a more senior level in domestic cricket – he has already been picked in the Under-23 side and could make his Ranji Trophy debut in the next few weeks.

The World Cup is the showpiece event at the Under-19 level, but as Rahul Dravid took great pains to point out during his four-year stint as the India Under-19 and ‘A’ coach between 2015 and 2019, it is no more than a means to an end. “I am not a big fan of judging these boys on the basis of results alone,” he told this writer not long into his tenure. “A few years down the road, few will remember whether someone was a part of the Under-19 World Cup-winning squad. They will only truly be recognised when they make the senior side and perform; that must be the ultimate goal, not just winning the Under-19 World Cup.”

It’s hard to fault Dravid’s philosophy but try telling an Under-19 kid approaching the biggest tournament of his life that it doesn’t really matter if he comes home victorious or not.

Like they have for the last several editions, India will approach this latest World Cup as among the strong favourites to go all the way. Perhaps not as strong as in the past, primarily because the pandemic scuttled domestic age-group cricket for two full seasons and therefore prevented the natural progression of the Under-16 cricketers who would have organically advanced to the Under-19 team, but still strong enough that other teams will cast a wary eye on them. India have made the finals in each of the last four editions, winning in 2018 and 2022, and while the pressure of history might weigh on Saharan and his boys, it shouldn’t really impact their performances when they get out on the park.

One of the reasons why India remain a dominant force at the junior level too is the quantum, and quality, of cricket they are exposed to from Under-16s upwards. There is so much organised cricket, much of it by the BCCI itself, that one would have to be extraordinarily unlucky to not get enough opportunities or to slip through the cracks. Greg Chappell, the Australian legend, once told me that India’s Under-19 lads are ‘almost finished products’ by the time they play for the country at that level because they have played so much so regularly compared to players in other countries, not least his own. It speaks to the robustness and vibrancy of the system which, contrary to popular public opinion, doesn’t merely pander to the high and the mighty.

This season alone, in the lead-up to the Under-19 World Cup, the inter-state one-day Vinoo Mankad Trophy was followed by a Challenger Series, then a quadrangular tournament featuring two Indian teams alongside Bangladesh and England. The boys then travelled to the UAE for the Asia Cup, where they lost in the semifinals to Bangladesh, and arrived in South Africa more than three weeks before their first World Cup encounter, playing the hosts and Afghanistan in a tri-series in which they remained unbeaten.

The quality of opportunities, therefore, better prepares them to tackle the challenges a tournament like the World Cup will throw up. None of these is a guarantee for success, needless to say – one need not look beyond the senior team for validation of that assertion – but if Saharan’s boys emulate Yash Dhull’s Class of ’22 and hold the trophy aloft on February 11 in Benoni, it won’t be by accident, you know.

This article was originally published on Hindustantimes news!

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