2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup - West Indies

[wasteyouryouth]

Seen some suggestion that Rajvardhan Hangargekar is actually 21.

 

[Bevab]

Seen some suggestion that Rajvardhan Hangargekar is actually 21.

This is worrying, we’ve already had a bloke in the IPL get caught for falsifying his age. Not to mention our best U19 side ever had it’s opener and MoM in the final being banned for a similar reason too. Need to start cracking down on these issues properly.

 

[Neo 7]

Nothing new this , age fraud is common in India . Parents do this for child's admission in school . So that carries on later ....

 

[icyman]

People do it for a variety of reasons. However, most do not understand the consequences of such actions then. I am not sure how the BCCI will tackle/ investigate this though.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Soon going to do a bit of post-mortem of India's glory in a week's time.

I know it's been almost 20 days now but I feel interested to talk about this one-

In the first game against South Africa, they lost couple of early wickets with Rasheed and Dhull steadying the ship. Dhull nearly bats out the innings with Kaushal Tambe scoring some useful runs taking India to 232 all out. Proteas lost a wicket in the first over but Brevis and Valentine batted superbly and in this phase, they looked like running past India's score quite comfortably. Then came the spin trio of Ostwal, Sindhu and Tambe who absolutely wiped out South Africa's batting

Before the Ireland game, Covid19 hit India forcing few players out which included the Captain Yash Dhull. Nishant took over the reigns. Once again, India were put in to bat first. A 164-run opening partnership followed by a strong finish from Bawa, Sindhu & Hangargekar helped India to 307/5. Yet another time spinners made some in-roads and comfortably won India the match by 174 runs!

Now comes the Uganda match. India were almost through to the Quarter-Finals so they played with a relaxed mindset. Uganda's vast difference in quality was another factor that was going to help India. Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored 144 & Raj Bawa 162* taking them to 405! The bowlers just made it look like a walk in the park as India reached the Quarter Finals. Also this was the 2nd biggest win in terms of runs in U19 WCs.

The Quarter Finals was a re-match of last tournament's Final. Yash Dhull and few others had recovered from Covid so they made a comeback. India put Bangladesh in to bat first. Ravi Kumar & Hangargekar gave India a dream start as Bangladesh never really recovered from there to get bowled out for 111. Raghuvanshi once again gave India a good start scoring 44. Yash Dhull occupied the crease as India won by 5 wickets after a mini-collapse from being 70/1 to 97/5.

A Semi-Final against Australia could both be exciting and can bring pressure at the same time. India chose to bat first. After a slow start and loss of early wickets it seemed like the dream was over. Then that partnership from Dhull & Rasheed took India to a commanding position. That finish from Dinesh Bana was like rubbing salt on the wounds of the Aussies. 290 was too much for the 3-time Champions as India won by 96 runs.

The Final was against England who asked India to chase. Now this does give some dull memories if we are to go by how the senior Indian team have performed in the last decade. Ravi Kumar gave India some early breakthroughs as England were 91/7 at one stage. That partnership between Rew & Sales was something that gave some tough time to the India fans. 189 looked like 20 more than the expectation. The pressure of Finals was visible in the Indian batting as they were 97/4 losing skipper Yash Dhull. Nishant & Bawa added 67 for the 5th wicket which actually calmed the nerves and the remaining path looked like a cakewalk. Those couple of sixes from Bana and that celebration gave goosebumps.

Yes we did win U19 WC in 2018 and made it to Finals everytime since 2016 but this success is just addictive and it speaks off the volumes of talent India have with them in Cricket. And it feels so good when you have the junior sides bring in such energy and professionalism.

Now these are my observations:-

1. Angkrish Raghuvanshi bats like KLR- has all the shots in the book, plays well off the back-foot, good player of slow/spin bowling. Minus point is, he also struggles against the moving ball and his confidence gets affected.
2. Raj Bawa is a great find for India and certainly something they need badly- A left-handed batting all-rounder that bowls right arm medium. In a way he does what Ben Stokes would do for England. He needs to work a bit more on his batting and try to push that bowling length a little upward.
3. Nishanth Sindhu seems more like a bowling all-rounder and I would be keen on seeing him bat. I like the fact that he tries to turn the ball.
4. Yash Dhull's confidence is pleasing to see and certainly I feel relaxed regarding India's lack of middle order batters in the domestic Circuit when I see him bat.
5. Vicky Ostwal seems more like a Jadeja/Axar Patel kind of a spinner who tries to bowl quick and relies on his drift off the surface.
6. Rajvardhan Hangargekar looked to be a really powerful striker of the Cricket ball plus he bowls medium pace which is an important thing to take note of. Unfortunately with all the negativity coming out regarding his age fraud, I think he could've waited a bit more.
7. Ravi Kumar looks a Zaheer Khan like bowler. He can swing the ball both ways and bowls left-arm. I would like to see him improve on his bowling speed.
8. India's middle order could've done better in more than a couple of games.
9. Partnership breaking still an issue.