India’s Under-19 cricketers will be facing a busy calendar ahead as they are expected to play against other Under-19 teams such as South Africa, England, and New Zealand.
The U-19 players recently went through a month-long camp at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) where they simultaneously practiced with the red, white and pink balls.
The camp was held in Bengaluru from June 15 to July 14. They might now be seen playing in One-day series’ and four-day matches against these teams. The idea behind providing ‘maximum exposure’ to the next generation of Indian cricket was drafted in by India’s legendary Test batsman and the Under-19 team coach Rahul Dravid.
“The idea is to give as much exposure to the youngsters as possible,” said a top BCCI official. In the past, Under-19 tours have been scheduled only ahead of the Under-19 World Cup, held every year.
Although, Dravid’s view is completely different from that, he says they should have more tours. Another official said, “The aim is to keep them as busy as the senior team”.
Around 25 players trained and worked on their skills under the likes of NCA batting coach WV Raman, NCA bowling coach Narendra Hirwani, former Mumbai captain Amol Muzumdar, former India bowler Subroto Banerjee and many more coaches and staff.
Subroto Banerjee when asked about how the camp went, said, “This is probably the best that I have attended. There are quite a few promising players. It was an excellent camp,” as quoted by BCCI.TV.
Meanwhile, Rahul Batham, a promising talent from Madhya Pradesh, also attended the camp was optimistic about putting into practice what he learnt at the one-month long camp. He said, “I will continue what I have learnt here and work on it and try to improve further. So when the season starts, I am ready for it.”