12 February,2024 07:15 AM IST | Benoni | PTI
India’s Naman Tiwari (left) celebrates the wicket of Aussie Weibgen with skipper Uday Saharan in Benoni on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images
India U-19 head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar is confident that at least a couple of players from the 2024 batch, that ensured a fifth consecutive final appearance for the record five-time champions, will go on to play for the senior team.
Although five-time champions India lost the final to Australia by 79 runs, players like skipper Uday Saharan, Musheer Khan, Saumy Pandey and Sachin Dhas were impressive throughout the tournament.
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"Definitely [the future of India is very bright]. As a bowling side and as a batting side, there have been stand out performances by quite a few players.
"They have shown maturity in tough situations and that bodes well for Indian cricket," Kanitkar said at the post-match press conference on Sunday.
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Saharan, who plays for Punjab, ended the tournament as the highest run-getter with 397 runs.
His stature grew as the tournament progressed. He scored a century against Nepal before playing a match-winning 81 in the semifinal against South Africa.
No.3 batsman Mursheer, the younger brother of prolific Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan, was the team's most consistent performer with the bat and ended with 360 runs. The two other stand-out players were Dhas, who revelled in the role of a finisher, and left-arm spinner Pandey, who snared 18 wickets. Maharashtra batsman Dhas showed temperament, a pre-requisite for the highest level.
The Indian team have always been an age-group powerhouse and the U-19 World Cup has presented stars like Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal to name a few.
"Every time there are a couple of guys who step up either in the IPL or the Indian team. I'm sure there will be a couple, but there is great competition back home,"
Kanitkar added.
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