WV Raman has praised the India Under-19s team for their dominant performances on the tour of England.
Raman, the former Test and ODI batsman who is leading the coaching staff in England, has enjoyed the way the youngsters have adapted to the unfamiliar conditions in winning both four-day “Tests”, and now taking a 4-0 lead in the Royal London One-Day Series with only one more game to play.
“These boys came on to this trip with a lot of expectations, and they have welcomed the conditions and the challenges in a very exemplary manner,” he said.
“Given that all but one of them are coming here for the first time, what they have done is extraordinary. It’s a very good opportunity for these youngsters, coming to England, getting to play against a different side under different conditions, it’s something that is going to stand them in good stead.”
Prithvi Shaw, who has shared captaincy duties through the tour with Himanshu Rana, was the only player with previous experience of England, after spending a few months at the Cheadle Hulme School near Manchester.
Shaw has scored consistently against both the red ball and white ball, while seamers Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi have led the attack superbly, with spinners Anukul Roy, Rahul Chahar and in the latest game Shiva Singh have had the England batsmen in all sorts of problems.
But the best batting of the one-day series has come from Shubman Gill, a tall right-hander from Firozpur who scored a century in the second four-day match in Worcester, and then a majestic 147 as India clinched the one-day series in Hove.
“Shubman is a fabulous player,” added Raman. “He’s got a great sense of timing and he’s known to make big runs. I knew it was coming. The first 50 he got was like a dream, fabulous shots, and the important thing was he carried on to get a big knock, and the others chipped in usefully as well.
“It was a very comprehensive performance at Hove, both the batting and bowling units have done extremely well. “The other important thing was the close-in catching. We took some very sharp chances early on, otherwise it would have been a different script.”
India’s performances suggest they are on course for the ICC Under-19s World Cup in New Zealand in early 2018, although Raman says this tour has been about much more than preparing his players for that.
“It is part of our development of the youngsters, not just for the World Cup alone,” he added. “The World Cup is too far away, we have a lot of cricket to play between now and then.”
The tour concludes with the fifth ODI in Taunton, the home ground of Somerset, on Wednesday – with India aiming to complete a 5-0 whitewash, and make it seven wins in seven matches on a special tour.
