Colts get chance to impress selectors

The national under-19 selection committee chaired by former India stumper Chandrakant Pandit and coach Bharat Arun will be in for some interesting times in the next eight months.

Pandit and Co will have to select the team that they believe will defend the title in Dubai in the ICC Under-19 World Cup next February while Arun will have to mould the team into a winning unit the way he did with Unmukt Chand’s young bunch of players on their way to winning in Australia last August.

The road towards that goal begins on Thursday when the Vijay Zol-led U-19 team leaves Bangalore for Australia to play in a series involving, along with the hosts, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in Darwin from June 30 to July 12.

Two members of the team that won the 2012 U-19 World Cup — Zol and Akhil Herwadkar — are in the scheme of things for the next edition. Besides, Kuldeep Yadav and Sanju Samson — who were part of the squad that prepared for last year’s biennial tournament but could not find a place for the final tournament — have matured as cricketers with more experience.

The U-19 team wound up their preparation for the trip Down Under with a practice match in Bangalore on Wednesday. Over the last few days, they tested themselves against the Karnataka State Cricket Association’s under-22 and U-25 22 teams.

While winning every match they play is important, equally vital for the colts is how they adapt to foreign conditions, different match situations, pressure, the opposition and other things and the Australian tour will put the youngsters in good stead. Also, this gives a chance for the players — a core from this team would be on that plane to Dubai in February next year — to know each other and also for Arun and the support staff to understand the boys better.

Besides the cricketing skills, Arun, a former India opening bowler, is one who has given importance to the overall development of a cricketer and bringing the boys together as a closely-knit unit. This was one of the reasons for India winning last year’s World Cup.

Within 10 days of returning from Australia, India U-19 will travel to Sri Lanka for two ‘Tests’ and five one-dayers and later then host Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe in a quadrangular series.

There are ample matches for the players to prove themselves and be in contention for the final squad for Dubai while the selectors will also be looking at other youngsters outside the current 15. For instance, Pandit and Co. will be monitoring the performances of the U-16 players who will graduate to the next level in October before zeroing in on the World Cup team.