India U-19 opener Prithvi Shaw impressed in the Ranji Trophy semifinal and final for Mumbai. He was picked on the positive feedback from Dravid when the local selectors asked him. But the former India captain said he shouldn't be given the credit.
Soon after the second one-dayer between India and England Under-19 sides came to an end at the Brabourne Stadium, coach Rahul Dravid stepped out of the pavilion to get the settings ready for his reserves to get some bowling work outs.
India won the game convincingly – by 129 runs – and levelled the series. The coach did not wrap up the day as the job wasn't done. He walked up to the pitch when the teams were back in the dressing room, had a look at the nature of the pitch before working with the reserve spinners at the adjacent surface.
When he could have easily walked into the senior India team's dressing room for a plum role, Dravid chose to work at the grassroot level. He has been doing the same as the coach of U-19 and A teams quite comfortably for a couple of years and seems to be enjoying every bit of it.
Post Wednesday's game, there wasn't any kind of relief on his face that could have said that the hosts had avenged their previous defeat. Rather, it was more about learning and the process that the boys had followed.
Preparing the youngsters for the U-19 World Cup next year in New Zealand, Dravid is happy to see the kind of talent in the team. "Really exciting young talent. This is a younger team than we are used to. More U-18 team since the Asia Cup (in Sri Lanka). It's the process of identifying the team. They are a little inexperienced and some are not regulars in the state team," he told the media.
Dravid revealed that he had asked the curators to leave grass on the pitch for the Indians to get used to facing some English quicks. "From our perspective, we want to play on pitches that have bounce and pace. That's the real challenge for us, especially also with the (U-19) World Cup in New Zealand in a year's time," Dravid said.
"The more we play on wickets like these, it will give us and selectors an idea about some of the players. It will give them an idea what they need to improve on. It's better to get those lessons now than to get them in December and not have enough time to prepare for it," he added.
India U-19 opener Prithvi Shaw impressed in the Ranji Trophy semifinal and final for Mumbai. He was picked on the positive feedback from Dravid when the local selectors asked him. But the former India captain said he shouldn't be given the credit.
"Firstly, can't give the credit to me, it's credit to Mumbai cricket. Actually (they) had the courage to play a 17-year old boy (Shaw)," Dravid said. "He is a talented player but has got a long way to go. He has got lot to learn. None of them are finished products, all are learning along the way. He will get opportunities, he (is) going to have some ups and downs. I think more they fail, as long as they reflect on it and recognise the shortcomings that these are the shots we need to improve, that is better. Our job is to make them aware of the things that they need to work on and to become better players from the experience."
Dravid praised Mumbai cricket management for keeping a tab on their cricketers progress, "It's really interesting, a lot of times I tell people I have been in this job for close to 16-18 months, the only people actually called me up and asked me about their players are the Mumbai guys. Nobody else calls. You think that being a former India player and being a coach, a lot of associations may be wanting to call you and ask about their players, but I had only conversations with the Bombay guys. Last year they wanted to know a lot about Armaan (Jaffer) and Prithvi as well. So I guess in a sense it tells you why Mumbai is so successful."
Dravid also expressed shock on the team's trainer Rajesh Sawant, who died of cardiac arrest in the team hotel on Sunday. ""It was shocking and it's really sad. I did not know him very well. He joined the team recently, but he was so excited about joining Indian team and (being) part of Indian U-19 team. I was having a few conversations with him around because he had taken over," he said.
"My thoughts are with his family. He (Rajesh) was liked so much in Mumbai cricket. He was a good man. It was a tough couple of days. I have never experienced like that. Credit to these boys. I told them that to come out and play the next day was an absolute credit to them, not easy for us to come out and play that last game (at Wankhede stadium) honestly."
India U-19 hammer England
Spinner Anukul Roy led India U-19 bowlers' splendid show as they drubbed England U-19 by 129 runs in the second one-dayer to level the five-match series 1-1 at the Brabourne Stadium on Wednesday. The hosts put up a challenging 287 and then bundled out England for 158.
Brief scores: India U-19 287/8 in 50 overs (H Rana 58, H Desai 75; M Fisher 4/44, H Brookes 3/60) bt England U-19 158 in 33.4 overs (D Rawlins 46; A Roy 3/34)
Shaw misses out on 'Test' berth
Delhi U-19 captain Jonty Sidhu will lead India U-19 in the two 'Tests' against England in Nagpur later this month. Meanwhile, Mumbai's Prithvi Shaw failed to make it to the squad.
Squad: Jonty Sidhu (C), Abhishek Goswami, Rohan Kunnummal, Saurabh Singh, Ravi Inder Thakur, Utkarsh Singh, Daryl Ferrario, Siddharth Akre, Lokeshwar, Mayank Markande, Sijomon Joseph, Harsh Tyagi, Rishabh Bhagat, Kanishk Seth, Vineet Panwar
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