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A reminder that needed no reinforcement

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Last updated on 16 Jan 2022 | 09:30 AM
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A reminder that needed no reinforcement

Saturday's win was a reinforcement of the fact that India have established a long thread of producing able cricketers to keep the flame brighter than ever

It was the fag end of the game. And the way Dewald Brevis, aka “Baby AB” was taking on the Indian bowlers, it seemed a genuine proposition that the Indian Colts would start the campaign with a loss. 

Only it didn’t happen.

In came, Raj Bawa. A right-arm pacer from Chandigarh, with his own natural instinct of a fast bowler, dwelled upon the stage to bowl an innocuous full ball. Brevis defended towards mid-off. No run taken. Bawa had a pause. Had a mini inspection of the pitch and like any excited young kid, raring to pick up a wicket, went back to his bowling mark.

It was that moment in the game when a single error from the Indian bowlers would have shut the door but Bawa changed the angle and forced the charismatic Saffer to push uppishly towards mid-off. Yash Dhull ran in, took a low diving catch and India had their man. South Africa suddenly lost their center of the run-chase.

From a distance, it is difficult to understand if Bawa really had planned to force Brevis to play the forward angle but he had surely observed a pattern there. His animated discussion with skipper Yash Dhull before that over gave in the idea that they still fancied their chances. As Vicky Ostwal reaped the fruits and initiated a collapse in his next spell, the South African kids had nowhere to hide, suffering a 45-run loss.

More than anything, that moment in the game was the clear demonstration of the gulf between India and the other nations when it comes to Under-19 events. And how well prepared the Colts seem to be before playing the biggest tournament of the career. That despite not having the age-group cricket for a year.

Nothing perhaps was a bigger example of the same than watching Yash Dhull going about the business. The middle-order batter from Delhi had led Delhi’s U-16, U-19, and India ‘A’ U-19 sides, and as a batter, is often compared to Kohli and KL Rahul at the junior level. However, with Aphiwe Mnyanda dismissing openers Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Harnoor Singh with only 11 runs on board, India found themselves in a rather unwanted situation, needing their skipper to stand up.

And stand up he did alongside vice-captain Shaik Rasheed, who was a treat to watch. The duo made sure a fundamental parity was ensured with some gorgeous drives and cuts while also eliminating risks for a brief period of time. It was where another characteristic of the Indian skipper came into play.

When the Saffers operated spinners Mickey Copeland and Liam Alder from both ends, it was a means to use the slow tracks of Providence into effect and cut the off-side zone to a minimum. Even skipper George Van Heerden had an off-side dominated field for Dhull, but the Indian managed to keep most of the shots grounded and find gaps with the precision of a surgeon. It is right out of the Virat Kohli school of ODI batting, indicating the arrival of a gifted player, who if nurtured properly, will be a huge asset for the senior side in the future. 

While Bawa and Ostwal were surely the showstoppers, the cricket fans are sure to watch a lot of Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Nishant Sindhu in the future. Hangargekar has already made his List A and T20 debut for Maharashtra and started his career as an offspinner for the Osmanabad district U-14 team but had to switch to fast bowling as his side didn't have a proper pacer. From such beginnings to emerge as a genuine pacer that had pinned the Proteas on the mat on Saturday would have taken something and Hangargekar emerged as a serious prospect who might fetch a lot of money in the next month’s IPL mega auction. His genuine pace was enthralling to see. 

Overall, Saturday's encounter was a reinforcement of the fact that India have established a long thread of producing able cricketers to keep the flame of cricket brighter than ever. Needless to emphasize that the IPL has cut the bridge to a minimum as far as the next-level graduation is concerned, but now the responsibility solely rests on the shoulder of Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Sairaj Bahutule to keep their focus on the job at hand.

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