PRE MATCH ANALYSIS
Follow UsBolstered by the return of its captain Yash Dhull and the vice-captain SK Rasheed, a rejuvenated India Under-19s is slated to take on the reigning champions Bangladesh in Antigua on Saturday (January 29) in the fourth quarter-final of the ongoing ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. The game will be played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, the same venue in which Afghanistan defended 134 against Sri Lanka the other day.
The Indian team is coming into this knockout fixture following a seven-day gap. And for the players who were in islocation since January 19th, which includes the skipper and his deputy, the break has been much longer. After completing their quarantine in Trinidad, these five cricketers arrived in Antigua on Friday (January 28) and straightway joined the training session to get rid of their rustiness.
On that tricky Coolidge surface, both these batters are expected to play key roles, much like the tournament opener against South Africa in which Dhull played an impressive knock under testing conditions. However, getting back in the groove following a week and a half long break can be difficult for these youngsters and knowing this the coaching staff did give them some extra attention at the nets on the eve of the game.
Other batters like Raj Bawa and Angkrish Raghuvanshi have been in exemplary form of late and the management would like them to continue with their good work.
Nevertheless, the team will miss the services of all-rounder Nishant Sindhu, who led the side in the absence of Dhull in the last two games and eventually tested positive after the Uganda fixture. At the league stages, Sindhu played an important role as an economical left-arm spinner, taking four wickets with an economy rate of 2.75 along with his batting.
In his place, the think-tank will probably continue with Aneeshwar Gautam who can be a like-for-like choice. Earlier, Gautam got into the XI due to the unavailability of the first-choice players and did a decent job.
Overall the management has 20 players to choose from. Sixteen of the 17 from the main squad remain available for selection, whereas there are four reserves. The BCCI had initially sent five travelling reserves to the Caribbean following the first Covid-19 outbreak in the squad. However, it is being learnt that one of them has been tested positive and is currently isolating in Antigua.
Though in order to use the reserves, the team will have to make a formal request to the ICC event technical committee for a temporary replacement.
This clash against Bangladesh will be of significant importance as in the last edition of the Youth World Cup the Bangla boys emerged as the champions, piping the Priyam Garg-led Indian team in the final.
However, recently in the Youth Asia Cup, these two teams met in the semis and Dhull and Co. showcased their big match temperament and completely outclassed the opponent with a margin of 103 runs. And it was the Indian bowling that sealed the fate of the contest with the likes of Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravi Kumar, Bawa and Vicky Ostwal doing the bulk of the damage.
These bowlers will once again get an opportunity to repeat that performance as here at Coolidge, the pitch is expected to have a significant amount of assistance for them.
