DNA Edit: World Champions!

India is still chock-a-block full of cricketing talent, and the fact that the Under-19 Indian team dominated its way to a fourth Cricket World Cup win renders ample testimony. From the very beginning, the Indian team had declared that it was not interested in yielding any ground. In its first match against Australia, India set the tone for the tournament defeating Australia by 100 runs. It was to repeat its performance in the final against the same team when it crushed them with eight wickets to spare while chasing a paltry total of 216.

The team, in its venture, was ably coached by Rahul Dravid who opted out of the commentator’s box to plunge himself full-time into coaching the Under-19 cricket team. Perhaps, these young guns couldn’t have asked for a better coach. Dravid, unlike other coaches, is disconcerted with the kind of attention the budding sporting careers of these boys receive. Reportedly, he is keen on grooming these youngsters into players whose lives do not solely revolve around cricket and who work on other aspects of their personalities as well. Irrespective of the fact that many a parents and coaches are not on the same page with Dravid, the former Indian skipper is spot on in his thinking.

Look closely on the sidelines of Indian cricket, and one is likely to find talents, once prophesied for greatness, that lost their way in the thicket of Indian cricket. A life built solely around cricket can come crumbling down in the aftermath of an injury or by being caught in the ripple effect of a nepotistic placement within the team. Ravneet Singh Ricky, Shalabh Srivastava, Ajitesh Argal, Smit Patel- star performers during India’s victorious campaigns in 2000, 2008 and 2012 have all slipped into oblivion. Unlike their fellow team mates, stadiums don’t reverberate with the chants of their name; women don’t hold up placards asking these players to marry them and kids don’t swarm them for autographs.
Ricky declared the best batsman in the 2000 U-19 World Cup – the same tournament that gave us the likes of Yuvraj Singh – now runs a cricket academy while working for Air India. Arghal, who was the man of the match in the final of the 2008 World Cup campaign led by Virat Kohli, last played in 2015. Smit Patel, part of the 2012 World Cup winning team, is struggling to keep his career afloat by playing for India’s worst performer in the domestic scene: Tripura. Obviously, then, the future is an uncertain terrain for these youngsters. Some of them will go on to shine, make a name for self and State, and perhaps even play for the Indian cricket team.

However, many of them will be left by the wayside. Before we glorify these youngsters, we must remind ourselves that “For every Virat Kohli, there is a story of Unmukt Chand as well”. Beyond the screaming headlines and the congratulatory news reports is the unfailing dedication of these youngsters to hone their craft. Sportsmen personify the noblest and the highest of our aspirations. They dedicate their physiology in the attainment of not just personal victories but untrammelled distinction for the nation. The least we could do is strengthen the safety net by improving the standards of first-class cricket in India.