OPINION
Follow Us"In the middle of this tournament, we all know what happened to the boys. To test positive, but to show that kind of resilience and positive attitude, was exemplary. This is just the start of their journey. Everyone in this group understands that, because this is all about development as players, as persons, and it's great to see the way they have developed and the way they've evolved over the last couple of months. It's a very exciting time for all of them but it's just the start of their journeys as cricketers."
The former India batter who now heads their National Cricket Academy, VVS Laxman was ecstatic was the Boys in Blue defeated England by four wickets in the grand finale of the 2022 Under-19 World Cup at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua on Saturday (February 5) and won their fifth title. Yash Dhull and Co. were always the red-hot favourites to lift the title but the journey wasn’t as easy as their match scorecards would suggest.
The Indian team was affected heavily by covid during the group stage and only had 11 players available for their second encounter against Ireland. Those players returned before the knockouts but India lost the services of Nishant Sindhu ahead of their quarterfinal against Bangladesh. Despite so many things happening off the field, India displayed tremendous professionalism every single time they took the field and got the job done. Every single player contributed at some stage and India clearly looked head and shoulders above the rest during the competition.
India finally had everyone available for the semifinal against Australia and the game turned out to be a one-sided affair, thanks to the 204-run stand between skipper Dhull and his deputy Shaik Rasheed. It was pretty evident from the start that, if India played to their potential, there was not a single team who could challenge them. England had their moments in the final but could never take control of the game. James Rew (116-ball 95) was superb with the bat but it was Ravi Kumar (4/34) and Raj Bawa (5/31) who hogged most of the limelight in the first innings.
The Tom Prest-led side still managed to get 189 runs on the board but half-centuries from Rasheed and Sindhu and a crucial 35 from Bawa got India over the line with more than two overs to spare. The Boys in Blue were always ahead of the chase and it was only fitting that it was a wicketkeeper-batter (Dinesh Bana) who smoked a World Cup-winning six over long-on to seal the deal. India have won four of the last seven Under-19 World Cups and that tell’s you how dominating they have been at this level.
Spinners nah, time for seamers to take over
The England batting unit would have been more worried about Indian spinners than their fast bowlers but it was the latter who wreaked havoc in the finale. Left-arm seamer Ravi and right-arm paceman Bawa shared nine wickets between them and never allowed England batters to dictate terms, apart from that 93-run partnership between Rew and James Sales for the eighth wicket. England top-order batters George Thomas, Jacob Bethell and skipper Prest were all in decent form and it was important for India to strike early, which is exactly what Ravi did with the new ball, as he did throughout the tournament.
The 18-year-old from Bengal was the only left-arm quick in the squad. Just like many other left-arm seamers, Ravi’s biggest strength is to target the stumps and move the ball both ways and that’s exactly how he pinned Bethell right in front of the stumps in the second over. Before the dust had settled, Prest dragged one of Ravi’s harmless deliveries back onto the stumps and England could never recover from these two early blows. Ravi was very accurate with his line and length and hardly gave anything away in the first 10 overs. The onus was now on Bawa to carry forward the good work and the fast-bowling all-rounder didn’t disappoint.
Bawa comes from a proper sporting family, with his grandfather Tarlochan Singh Bawa being part of the 1948 Olympics gold medal-winning Indian hockey team, while his father Sukhwinder Bawa happens to be the coach of former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh. Bawa started the competition with a four-wicket haul against South Africa but didn’t get a single wicket in the next four encounters, with spinners doing most of the damage. The surface at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium didn’t have too much on offer for the slower bowlers and it was upto Bawa to take up the ownership.
Bawa can be inconsistent with his line and length but that wasn’t the case on Saturday. The 19-year-old would have had George Thomas in his very first over had Kaushal Tambe not dropped a simple catch in the slip cordon. Bawa was also generating good pace and before England could even think about building a partnership, the paceman got rid of Thomas, Will Luxton and George Bell in the space of two overs to give India full control of the game. England were reduced to 91/7 at one stage and it felt like they would get bundled out for somewhere close to 100 but that’s when Rew and Sales joined hands and managed to put some pressure on India's leading wicket-taker Vicky Ostwal and Tambe.
The two kept the scoreboard moving at a decent rate and it felt like England might get close to the 250-run mark but that’s when Ravi was introduced back into the attack and the left-armer dismissed Rew and Thomas Aspinwall in the same over to put an end to England’s charge. However, Ravi couldn’t complete his five-wicket haul because Bawa got the last wicket of Joshua Boyden in the next over and finished with five wickets in his kitty. Despite some fightback from Rew and Sales, India knew they had dismissed England for a below-par total and were within touching distance from getting their hands on the elusive trophy.
India display their strong batting depth
The run-chase was never going to be easy and with the departure of their in-form opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the first over, India knew they would have their task cut out. The Boys in Blue needed one big partnership or a couple of decent stands to kill the game and they managed to do that, thanks to the likes of Rasheed, Sindhu and Bawa. It was Harnoor Singh (21) and Rasheed who ensured India didn’t lose too many wickets upfront and put on 49 runs for the second wicket.
Harnoor couldn’t survive for too long but Rasheed kept India steady in the run-chase. Dhull, who smashed a stunning century in the semifinal, could only manage 17 but did add 46 runs for the third wicket. Everything was going as planned as India were 95/2 at one stage, however, both Rasheed and Dhull got out to Sales in the space of two overs and that gave England a glimmer of hope. There was a bit of pressure starting to build on India but Sindhu and Bawa took the counter-attacking approach, smashing boundaries at regular intervals. The first six of the innings came in the 40th over when Sindhu smoked Rehan Ahmed over long-on and then Bawa did the same to Thomas Aspinwall in the next over to turn the momentum completely in India’s favour.
India lost Bawa and Tambe but Sindhu only left the field once the job was done. The left-hander from Haryana completed his fifty off 54 deliveries - his first of the competition - but it was Bana who finished the job for India with two consecutive sixes. The job was done, and the celebrations began in the Indian camp with Sindhu and Bana leading the charge. Bawa was named player of the match for his all-round performance, while Dhull became the fifth Indian captain after Mohammad Kaif (2000), Virat Kohli (2008), Unmukt Chand (2012) and Prithvi Shaw (2018) to win this competition.
"It's a proud moment to achieve something for India. At first it was difficult to find our combinations in the tournament but then we became like a family. Sir (head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar) made it a good environment and team strength was good," Dhull said at the post-match presentation.
Intrepid and industrious in their approach, the starry-eyed Indian players' success stories also gave a glimpse into the world's most perfectly calibrated youth structure, which is capable of consistently producing world-class cricketers who are ever ready to take on the biggest of challenges.
