The head coach of India U-19 Rahul Dravid reckons that the some of the players from the current crop can play in the ‘A’ team within the next six to eight months.
Durin the pre-departure press conference, Rahul said, “The World Cup is an exciting challenge and provides a good opportunity for all these guys. There is a process now in place in Indian cricket – U-19 cricket to first-class cricket and then to India A and then the India national team, when the opportunity arrives. I have been talking to these players about other formats as well. If they can make it to the India A team in 6-8 months, it will be great. We see this as a stepping stone.”
The current India U-19 skipper Prithvi Shaw has already played for the India A team during warm-up games against New Zealand. However, when Dravid was asked that who among the current batch has the potential to make it big at the senior level, he replied, “I have learned a lot in these years as coach of under-19 and India A team. These boys are from a different generation and their thinking is different. They have to adapt to all three formats. It’s a huge challenge. The game has changed a lot. I can’t say who can go on and make it or who cannot. All of them have the potential to play for their state and India in future.”
The squad is set to leave for New Zealand on Thursday morning for the U19 World Cup commencing on January 13. The squad has a few cricketers like Shaw, of Mumbai, Shubhman Gill of Punjab, Himanshu Rana of Haryana, Ishan Porel of Bengal have been playing first-class cricket, which the coach termed as a plus for the side.
Talking about the same, Dravid said, “It’s always good to have players in the team with some first-class cricket experience. This team too has a few. The team is similar to the one we had the last time with only one major difference – that in the previous team there were people with more experience of having played U-19 World Cup. This team to has a good pace attack, good spin bowlers and a good batting unit like the last one.”
Talking about the performance, Prithvi said, “We are going to play a few practice games before the World Cup. That will help us. Playing first-class cricket will be of help to me in the World Cup. It’s a great opportunity and as captain, I want to take the whole team with me. Everyone in the team knows his role. I want to win the World Cup.”
India U-19 squad: Prithvi Shaw (Captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Manjyot Kalra, Himanshu Rana, Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Aryan Juyal (wicket-keeper), Harvik Desai (wicket-keeper), Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ishan Porel, Arshdeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Shiva Singh, Pankaj Yadav.
