Six U-19 players ready for India A, says fielding coach
NEW DELHI : India U-19 fielding coach Abhay Sharma feels six members of the World Cup-winning India U-19 squad, including the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti, are ready to play at the India A level.
The other two, who have done enough to graduate to the A level, are spinner Anukul Roy and wicket-keeper batsman Harvik Desai, he reckoned.
Sharma, a former wicketkeeper batsman who featured in 89 first-class games, said fasttracking the U-19 players to the A and the senior side has its pros and cons.
“These six players are ready for the A level. I would not want to put them at the highest-level as of now. It should be a gradual process. Fast-tracking U-19 players into the national side can work both ways,” said Sharma.
Out of the six players he picked, four have played either first-class or List A cricket. Before their exploits in New Zealand, Shaw and Gill had already made an impact by scoring firstclass centuries.
Expectations are high ever since the boys won a record fourth World Cup for India.
However, U-19 success doesn’t guarantee that all players would be able to make the transition to higher levels, something echoed by coach Rahul Dravid.
The reality was summed up best by former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar.
“Important to not get too carried away by U-19 triumphs. From 2010 to 2016, of the 64 players that played in World Cups, only two have made a real mark at the highest level,”
Manjrekar wrote on social media.
DRAVID PAID ~2.4 CRORE
MUMBAI : Rahul Dravid, coach of the India U-19 team, received ~2.43 crore as professional fees from the BCCI for the six-month period ended December 31, 2017.
Paras Mhambrey, the bowing coach of the triumphant team, had received ~27 lakh as professional fees from the BCCI for the four-month period between August and November last, as per details of the payments done by the BCCI for January 2018 put up on the Board’s website.
Former left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra has been granted a onetime benefit of ~60 lakh by BCCI, which has also paid tour, match and retainer fees of India cricketers Ajinkya Rahane (~1.47 crore), Hardik Pandya (~1.27 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (~1.08 crore), Wriddhiman Saha (~57.81 lakh) and Abhinav Mukund (~33.69 lakh).
It should be a gradual process. Fasttracking U19 players into the national side can work both ways.
A SHARMA, U-19 fielding coach