One striking feature of India’s under-19 World Cup campaign was how confident the team was of doing well, even before the tournament started.

There was a good reason for that confidence too. The under-19 team has been playing together for almost two years now, and junior selector Sanjeev Sharma believes that played a crucial part in their victory.

“Young players are getting more opportunities to shine these days, there is so much cricket happening. There’s a lot more age-group cricket, and players also get chance to play in the Ranji Elite and Plate groups,” he said.

Sharma also felt NCA coach Dav Whatmore has his plans for the future as far as juniors are concerned. “Dav Whatmore will be with the team even after they come back. In fact, he is also planning to call 40 boys to a camp now. Earlier, only 20 were called up for the NCA camp. He will have a 35-day camp in two groups of juniors and sub-juniors. This will be done so we have bench strength ready.”

As far as the team went, the big plus was the emergence of two left-arm spinners, which comes as a ray of hope after Dilip Vengsarkar had pointed at the dearth of upcoming spinners.

“Look at the way the Iqbal (Abdulla) and (Ravindra) Jadeja have bowled in the entire series. They have a lot of talent. Of course, you can’t rush them into the international arena... but there’s time for these youngsters to come up the ranks,” he said.

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