Cricket
India U19 coach identifies best players in World Cup team
Raj Bawa of Himachal Pradesh, a 19-year-old all-rounder, was the highest wicket-taker and fourth highest run-scorer for India in the recent U19 Asia Cup. He was 1 of 3 players mentioned by Hrishikesh Kanitkar.
Raj Bawa was India's highest wicket-taker and only behind Pakistan's Zeeshan Zameer on the overall wickets tally in the U19 Asia Cup. (BCCI)
The Indian U19 team, which is currently preparing for the upcoming World Cup campaign - beginning with a warm-up match against West Indies U19 next Sunday (January 9) - has quite a few players who have the talent to make the jump to senior-level cricket, said head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar.
"Most of them have the talent to get there like Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravi Kumar and Raj Angad Bawa. They have it in them, so they should not hurry," Kanitkar told Gulf News on Sunday ahead of the Indian team's departure for the West Indies, where the World Cup will be played.
"They need to give themselves time to develop and learn all the nuances of the game and then they have a good chance of striking it and making it big," former Indian cricketer Kanitkar said.
India at U19 Asia Cup: Bowlers fared better
India will be heading into the World Cup after coming back from a last-ball defeat to Pakistan to clinch the U19 Asia Cup title in UAE this week. They defeated Afghanistan to make it to the semis and then outplayed Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the knockout matches.
Some of the top players from the Asia Cup were the India U19 players Kanitkar mentioned - like Raj Bawa of Himachal Pradesh, a 19-year-old all-rounder who was the highest wicket-taker and fourth highest run-scorer in the team. Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Ravi Kumar shared new ball duties for the Indian team at the tournament.
The Indian batting order found it harder to adjust to the pace of the 50-over game. Opening batsman Harnoor Singh and 17-year-old Shaik Rasheed from Andhra Pradesh were the highest scorers for the team.
India U19 World Cup squad: Yash Dhull (c), Harnoor Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, SK Rasheed (vc), Nishant Sindhu, Siddarth Yadav, Aneeshwar Gautam, Dinesh Bana, Aaradhya Yadav, Raj Angad Bawa, Manav Parakh, Kaushal Tambe, RS Hangargekar, Vasu Vats, Vicky Ostwal, Ravikumar, Garv Sangwan.
Reserves: Rishit Reddy, Uday Saharan, Ansh Gosai, Amrit Raj Upadhyay.
