Ahmedabad: India white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma has sent his best wishes for the U-19 team going to face England in the ICC Men’s U-19 Cricket World Cup final on Saturday. Both India and England are unbeaten in the tournament and will play the U-19 World Cup final at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in St John’s, Antigua.
“Firstly, I would like to wish them the best for the finals. They have played some solid cricket to reach the finals, so I wish them the very best. The effort they put in, I was in Bengaluru with them and they were practicing really hard. They did specific practice before they left for Dubai for that Asia Cup and then went on to play the World Cup,” said Sharma in a virtual press conference ahead of the ODI series starting on Sunday.
Talking further about his chat with Yash Dhull and Co. at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) when he was undergoing rehab for a left hamstring injury, Sharma remarked, “The chat I had with them was about sharing my experience of playing the World Cup, Asia Cup and how it is to play against different opponents.”
“That’s the challenge of playing ICC tournaments because in bilateral series, we play one opposition and you know what you can come up with if you have one bad game and what you need to do in the second and third game. But when you are playing in an ICC tournament, every opposition can challenge you in a different way.”
Sharma, a member of India’s U-19 squad reaching the final in the 2006 edition of the tournament, further remarked, “I was talking to them about how you can plan your game against different oppositions. I told them how important it is to go out and enjoy the moment because everyday you don’t reach finals and play in World Cup finals.
“So, when you have the opportunity, first enjoy it and then just give it your best. The kind of cricket they are playing, we have a great chance of winning the World Cup and I can only wish them from the entire team all the best. I hope they will come out and win the game.”
Yash Dhull and Co. reached the final of the U-19 World Cup with clinical victories over South Africa, Ireland, Uganda, Bangladesh and Australia despite some members, including Dhull himself, being infected by COVID-19 in the tournament.
If India wins the final, Dhull will join Mohammed Kaif (2000), Virat Kohli (2008), Unmukt Chand (2012) and Prithvi Shaw (2018) into an exclusive list of U-19 World Cup-winning captains from the country.
(IANS)
