India good enough to field two U-19 teams: Azharuddin

KOLKATA: Such is the strength in depth of India’s U-19 squad that Mohammed Azharuddin said they could field two teams.

“They have done really well so far and I hope they make India proud in the final. To have got opponents out for 69 in a World Cup semi-final, it speaks volumes of the kind of talent we have. I think they are good enough to make another India team,” said the former India captain after India beat Pakistan in the U-19 World Cup semifinal in Christchurch on Tuesday.

“We have won the U-19 World Cup a number of times and Inshallah, I hope they bring the cup back again,” said Azharuddin, on the sidelines of a school sports meet here.

That some of these teenagers were picked up for eight-figure sums at the IPL auction last weekend augurs well for them, he said. If they are given the right conditions, India could well get the next Jaspreet Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, he said.

When the conversation shifted to the India seniors, Azharuddin felt India were unlucky to have lost the Test series 1-2 to South Africa and rated Virat Kohli’s men as favourites for the ODIS.

“We have a good side and we should be able to beat them. We have a good bowling unit and hopefully, for the ODIS we will get wickets that favour batsmen a little more. So I am hoping our batsmen will click,” he said.

Azharuddin couldn’t praise India’s bowlers enough for their show in South Africa. “I think we must complement the bowlers. If we get wickets like this (the kind India got in South Africa), we will be a handful for any opposition. We have proved on such surfaces we can bowl the opposition out.”

For him, the victory at Wanderers was one of the best India have ever achieved abroad. “On a very tough wicket, we played like a No. 1 team. It was good to regain some prestige and the bowlers need to be praised. They put the South Africa batsmen under pressure,” said Azharuddin.

‘Like everybody in India’ he felt Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar should not have been dropped. “Sure, they could have played a different team but then the captain and the team thought differently. Outside the team and everybody in India felt Ajinkya and Bhuvi should have played. But every captain has his say,” he said.