Why India is a superpower in Under-19 cricket

The competition for the wicketkeeper’s slot in the Indian team for the 2000 Under-19 cricket World Cup was stiff. So stiff, a certain Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed out.

It was the third edition of the tournament, which India went on to win, for the first time. In the 11 editions since, India has been the champion in four, the latest triumph coming early this month in Antigua. It has been the runner-up on three occasions and has contested the last four finals. Clearly, India is the superpower in junior cricket.

But its campaign this time around ran into rough weather when five of its players, including captain Yash Dhull and vice-captain Shaik Rasheed, tested positive for Covid-19 during the tournament. That the Indian team overcame this handicap and went on to win the cup is remarkable.

It also gives us a clue to the answer of the question: Why is India so good at junior cricket?

If a team can cope with the unavailability of five players, including the skipper and his deputy who are among the side’s key batters, it shows not just character and resilience; it also shows the sheer depth of talent in the squad, and in the country.

Coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar is justifiably proud of the way the Indian team survived the crisis and bounced back. “In all my years as a coach, of various teams, I had never come across a situation like this, when you lose five players — and important ones at that — at one go,” he tells The Hindu. “Yes, sometimes you lose a player or two to injury and that’s normal. But what happened in Antigua was a different experience that taught me something new. Quick decisions had to be taken.”

Kanitkar, a former India batter, reveals that V.V.S. Laxman played a major role during that tough time in Antigua. The former Test star was with the Indian team shortly after taking over as the head of cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

“After the players tested positive for Covid-19, a lot of things had to be done outside cricket, like all the communication with the ICC and the BCCI and I didn’t have the phone with me as I was not allowed to [as a coach],” says Kanitkar. “Laxman did all that, as even the manager was affected by the virus. He also did a lot of throw-downs for the boys — more than us — though he didn’t have to.”

Kanitkar and Laxman go back a long way. They played together for India Under-19 on a tour of England. “The players of my generation didn’t have the kind of exposure that today’s kids have,” he says. “There wasn’t this much coverage of junior cricket either, those days.”

Things had improved by the time Ajay Ratra won the tight race for the wicketkeeper’s gloves, ahead of Dhoni, for the new millennium’s first Under-19 World Cup, held in Sri Lanka. Twenty two years later, he recalls vividly India’s first triumph in cricket’s most important tournament for juniors.

“It means a lot to me that I was part of the Indian team that won the Under-19 World Cup for the first time,” says Ratra, who like Kanitkar took up coaching after playing for the senior Indian team. “It wasn’t easy at all to make it to the Indian team that year, so I was happy when I was selected.”

Mahendra Rajdev was a part of that under-19 selection committee. “Our job was tough, as we watched a lot of talented youngsters that season,” he says on the sidelines of the Ranji Trophy match between Kerala and Meghalaya at Rajkot’s Saurashtra Cricket Association Ground, where he is the curator. “I remember we had a lot of discussions when we decided on the wicketkeeper; apart from Dhoni, we had also considered Pallav Vora.”

“And there was Pradeep Chawla, too,” adds Ratra. “It was a very good Indian team that went to Sri Lanka. We had players like Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, who was the captain, Ravneet Ricky, Y. Venugopal Rao and Reetinder Sodhi. I had come across Yuvraj in the Under-16 section as well, as we were in the same zone; he was playing for Punjab and I for Haryana. He was a special talent blessed with great timing and hitting ability.”

Ratra says the team was well-coached by Roger Binny. “We fielded the same eleven for all the eight matches in the tournament,” he points out. “Every player contributed and there were some unforgettable performances like the 58 off 25 balls from Yuvraj in the semifinal against Australia.”

In that Australian side were Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson, Nathan Hauritz and Ed Cowan. Graeme Smith, Brendon McCullum, Ian Bell, Jacques Rudolph, Marlon Samuels, Danish Kaneria and Albie Morkel also featured in that World Cup.

Several of Indian cricket’s big names too have played in the Under-19 World Cup over the last couple of decades. The list includes Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, K.L. Rahul, Irfan Pathan, Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel, Cheteshwar Pujara, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan.

From this year’s World Cup-winning squad, Dhull, who made two hundreds on his Ranji Trophy debut, and Raj Bawa, who picked up a wicket with his first ball in First Class cricket, have already graduated to the senior level with ease.

Not surprisingly, the Under-19 stars struck it rich at the IPL auction too, with Bawa and Rajvardhan Hangargekar being bought for ₹2 crore and ₹1.5 crore by Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings respectively. Delhi Capitals paid ₹50 lakh for Dhull, while Aneeshwar Gautam (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Vicky Ostwal (Capitals) were snapped up for ₹20 lakh each.

It will be interesting to see how these youngsters progress over the next few years. Not every star at the Under-19 World Cup has gone on to shine on bigger stages.

“We have seen quite a few young cricketers failing to replicate their success at the senior level,” says Sujith Somasunder, former India opener who is heading education at the NCA. “Take the case of Unmukt Chand, for instance. He led India to victory at the 2012 World Cup. And everyone expected him to lead the senior Indian team, too.”

He didn’t even make the team. A few months ago, he retired from Indian cricket, at the age of 28.

“When there are big expectations from others, and from yourself, you are bound to be weighed down by them, when you fail,” says Sujith, who is doing his PhD in sports psychology. “It can be painful at any age, but more so when you are in your teens. We at the NCA are going to address the issue and we will prepare our trainees mentally, too.”

The NCA, Kanitkar believes, has played a major role in India becoming the biggest force in junior cricket. “Another reason I feel is that our boys are very dedicated and want to excel,” he says. “The wide pool of talent, which you could find across the country, is a major factor, too.”

The number of games, domestic and international, that an Under-19 player gets to play is another reason. The BCCI has built a strong structure for age-group cricket in the country.

And how did the boy who edged out Dhoni fare at the 2000 World Cup? He had the highest number of dismissals (19) among all the wicketkeepers.