Selectors credit India U-19 World Cup victory to teamwork – Cricket News Update
According to junior selector Preetam Gandhe, the India Under-19s’ recent World Cup victory is based entirely on teamwork, not only within the players on the squad, but also between the board, selectors, coaches, and other support staff, all of which led
to the drafting of a winning XI.
“I would call it teamwork, right from BCCI to NCA, coaches, support staff, selectors and most importantly the players,” said Gandhe. “We all were on the same path. We had one goal and that was to see this team do well. They did everything right, from conditioning
camps to playing different tournaments.”
Gandhe revealed that the current line-up for the U-19 World Cup had been in the making for over a year, with the board and selectors having focused their energies on compiling a winning team, following the U-19 team’s defeat at the hands of their Pakistani
counterparts in the quarter-final of the U-19 World Cup 2010.
Special care was paid to choosing promising and talented players from the various U-19 tournaments the team played, among these a Quadrangular Under-19 Series which http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 won in Visakhapatnam during September/October last year, against the Australia, Sri
Lanka, and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 U-19s.
“The quadrangular tournament helped us in earmarking the core group,” Gandhe explained. “Most of the boys who have done well are part of that group. The likes of Unmukt, Aparajith, Smit, Harmeet, Vikas, Akshdeep and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Markasakkam-Sandeep-c74795 have been playing together for
the last one year.”
The chosen team was then put through a host of other tournaments, such as a Quadrangular Under-19 Series in Australia in April this year, against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 U-19s, which India once again went on to win.
Their performance as a team was further enhanced through the Asian Cricket Council Under-19s Asia Cup in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Malaysia-c2949 during June/July this year. The India U-19s won all of their league stage matches save an encounter with the Pakistan U-19s, which they lost
by a narrow 1-run margin. The final of the tournament saw both teams facing off yet again, and the match culminated in a draw, with India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 sharing the tournament trophy.
The successes and constant match practice as a team paid off, and the India U-19s breezed through most of the U-19 World Cup, before finally besting hosts Australia in the tournament final on August 26, by 6 wickets at the Tony http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 Stadium in Townsville.
Prominent performances were registered by players such as skipper Unmukt Chand (111*), wicketkeeper batsman Smit http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sandeep-Sharma-c88505 (4/54) – all of whom have been playing within the same group since last year.
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