India thrash Australia to clinch the 2018 U-19 title

India became the first team to win U-19 World Cup for the 4th time with a comfortable 8-wicket win against Australia. Here are my key takeaways:

Preparation in the lead-up to 2018 World Cup

India's cricket board (BCCI) put together a team of coaches and support staff who worked together over the past 18 months to prepare for the 2018 World Cup. 2017 started with England U-19 touring India for a 5-match ODI series and 2-test series. India won the ODI series by a margin of 3-1 with 1 game ending as a tie, while the test series ended in 0-0 draw. Then India traveled to England and thrashed the hosts 2-0 in tests. The ODI series that followed saw India win 5-0 with England barely competing in 3 games. In fact, India has won 15 of the last 17 Youth ODIs played against Australia as well. The only unsuccessful outing for the young Indian team was the Youth Asia Cup towards the end of 2017, where they lost to Nepal and Bangladesh and failed to make the Semi-Finals.

Over the tours mentioned above, India managed to test a number of players and combinations. Abhishek Sharma, Prithvi Shaw as well as Himanshu Rana got chances to lead the U-19 team. A number of different wicket-keepers were tried before India decided to go with Harvik Desai, who hit the winning runs in the Final. Everyone from top-order batsmen Shubman Gill to pacer Shivam Mavi got chances to prove themselves and also to understand each others' game. Riyan Parag from Assam made his U-19 debut in England when he was not even 16 and scored two fifties in the game. All in all, India's team of 16 had been thoroughly tested by the time they made it to New Zealand, giving them the favorites tag.

Performances during the 2018 World Cup

Throughout the 2018 campaign, India's U-19 team looked invincible and in control. While batting first, the margin of the wins ranged from 100 to 203 runs. In the three games India chased, two were won without the lost of a wicket, while they won the Final against Australia with 8 wickets and 14 overs to spare. To manage such margins, a team needs to fire in all departments and that is exactly what the Indians did.

India's openers Prithvi Shaw and Manjot Kalra gave India good starts in nearly all games. Skipper Shaw has already scored hundreds for Mumbai's Ranji team and a lot was expected from him. He certainly looked good and showed he was solid on the offside with some beautiful uppish cuts and cover drives. With a century in the Final, Manjot Kalra showed that he had the brains to rotate the strike and finish the job in addition to his aggressive stroke-making abilities.

But the batsmen that stood out to me was Punjab's Shubman Gill. Gill made it look easy throughout the tournament with decisive footwork and ability to play shots across the park. Every time he came in to bat, he was happy to rotate the strike and get used to the pace of the pitch. Once he had a few runs to his name, he would not shy away from taking the aerial route. Gill has already been picked for India A tour, although he could not make it due to an injury. Due to the success of the top 3, the middle order was not tested too much. Against Bangladesh, the tall left-hand batsman Abhishek Sharma played an important knock with a 50 at better than run a ball. He also scored a quick fire 23 off just 8 balls in India's opening game.

India has consistently produced good batsmen, but this time Indian bowlers were blowing away opponents. The bowlers picked all 60 wickets on offer and didn't allow a single opposition to bat for 50 overs. Pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti got a lot of attention when he bowled at 146 kmph during India's opening game. He was certainly impressive with good seam position and some hard to play yorkers - but he was the least consistent in his length among the Indian pacers. Nagarkoti is definitely a brilliant athlete and bowled changed his pace smartly in the Final as well. However, Shivam Mavi was the pick of the pacers for me, followed by Ishan Porel for their accuracy and ability to keep the runs down in the initial overs.

Among spinners, I was most impressed by Anukul Roy who ended up being the joint-highest wicket taker in the tournament. The left-armer bowled with a consistent line and length throughout the tournament. Additionally, he was great in the field and batted sensibly to support Gill in the Semi-Finals against Pakistan. Another left arm finger spinner who impressed was Shiva Singh. Shiva bowled with good control and picked total of 4 wickets for 56 runs in the Semi-Final and Final of the tournament. Shiva played a key role in restricting Australia to a below par score of 216, when they could have gone onto to get close to 250-260.

Preparedness for the top level

With the success of U-19 cricketers, a lot of people started wondering which of these young stars are ready for the top level. In the past, many players have been brought into the senior side very quickly after their success at U-19 level and Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli are prime examples. However, there have been far more players who were rushed in too quickly, and ended up playing only a handful of games without creating any major impact.

Another important factor is the state of India's senior side. The current Indian side is more or less settled and while there might be uncertainty around some slots such as #4 in ODIs, there are plenty of contenders in Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedhar Jadhav and Shreyas Iyer to settle into that role for the 2019 World Cup. Even the test team seems settled with good bench strength and therefore even this special bunch of youngsters will have to wait it out.

I surely don't think there is a need for a hard rule in terms of domestic experience before consideration for the senior side but given the senior team's current state, the youngsters will do well with 2-3 years of domestic experience and 'A' tours to hone their skills and iron out any known chunks in their armor. I was most impressed with Shubman Gill - but even he will need to play for India A and get some Ranji games under his belt before he can even be considered for a senior team call-up.

Coaches, support staff & the role of BCCI

The coaches for India U-19 team consisted of former India skipper Rahul Dravid as head coach, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and fielding coach Abhay Sharma. Throughout the World Cup whenever India was playing, a lot of attention was given to Dravid, who was probably the most well-known cricketer involved in this World Cup. While all three coaches certainly deserve credit for creating a good environment and working with players over the past 14-16 months, they were ably supported by BCCI - who not only organized a lot of tournaments and had selectors watch them, but also ensured the support of trainer (Anand Date) and physio (Yogesh) from NCA.

In a recent discussion with Cricinfo's Shashank Kishore, Rahul Dravid mentioned that this was the best support group he had been part of. As many as 5 key players suffered injuries in the run to the Final, but the support staff handled the players and injuries extremely professionally. This enabled pacers Mavi and Nagarkoti to be fit and available throughout the World Cup, while Ishan Porel recovered in time to play the knockoff games. All these men from the support staff certainly deserve a round of applause.