The National Cricket Academy's second batch commenced training in
Bangalore on Tuesday and the twenty probables selected for the
enterprise comprise almost exclusively of players aged 19 and less.
Only two, Deep Dasgupta and Swapnil Hazare have crossed teenage. Last
year, the average age was higher but the priorities have changed
somewhat since then. Chairman of the NCA Committee Raj Singh Dungarpur
said the exercise is designed to produce a winning combination for the
Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand next year for which most of the lot
will be eligible. Several players aged slightly older and no less
talented would have benefited just as much from the facilities and
coaching available at the NCA. Perhaps the zonal academies could have
focused on a younger clientele and the NCA on India prospects rather
than India Under-19 prospects.
Twelve of the 20 have played first class cricket, so it is not an
entirely raw batch of youngsters. Of the 20, six are batsmen, five all
rounders, three wicket keepers, three medium pacers and three spinners
and several exceptional talents abound in that lot. Like Vinayak Mane
and Gautam Gambhir, India Under-19 openers against England earlier
this year, who made double centuries apiece in the third 'Test' at
Madras. Mane is perhaps the more exciting prospect of the two; making
his first class debut in the Irani Trophy last October, the 18-yearold's progress has been swift over the last six months. Ishan Ganda, Y
Gnaneswara Rao, Gaganinder Singh and Arindam Das are the other batsmen
in the fray. Rao, 16 topped the batting averages in the Cooch Behar
Trophy this season (his brother Venugopala Rao, three years older,
also averaging in excess of 100 for good measure) although his first
foray into the Ranji Trophy for Andhra Pradesh was not especially
memorable. Ganda too made a stack of runs at Under-19 level and is a
relative veteran amongst the lot, having made his first class debut in
the 1997/98 season for Haryana at the age of 16.
There are three stumpers: Ajay Ratra, Deep Dasgupta and Parthiv Patel.
Ratra is being assiduously groomed for a succession to the India
throne. As India Under-19 skipper for the aforementioned series
against England, he performed appreciably with the bat, knocking up a
century in the Hyderabad 'Test', accompanied by some polished work
behind the stumps. But Ratra hasn't yet been able to extend that
success to the first class level: in 18 first class games since
1998/99, he has a highest score of 77.
Dasgupta's selection comes close on the heels of his inclusion amongst
the Indian probables for the Zimbabwe tour and should set him up for a
possible assault at the India cap. In seven games for Bengal and East
Zone, he has 26 dismissals abetted by a respectable average of 30+
with the bat. Patel is one of the babies of the group, a 16-year-old
keeper cum left handed opening batsman, who idolises Adam Gilchrist.
Before he had turned 16, the precocious lad was chosen to lead West
Zone Under-19s in a warm-up game against the touring Englishmen and it
was only the presence of Ratra as India Under-19 skipper that
prevented him going one notch higher.
Clubbed amongst the category of allrounders are Kashinath Khadkikar,
Arjun Yadav, Raza Ali, Maninder Singh and Swapnil Hazare, the first
three of them spinners. Khadkikar is yet to have a taste of the first
class game but did outstandingly in the Cooch Behar Trophy this
season, although he was not at his best against the England Under-19s.
Yadav has an immaculate pedigree, being the son of Shivlal, and like
his father is an off spinner. A member of the Under-19 World Cup squad
in January 2000, he did not play a game in India's victorious
campaign. Maninder, Hazare and Ali all made their first class debuts
this season and the latter was part of the Railways team that
agonisingly finished runner-up. Although Ali didn't play the final it
was his crucial unbeaten 32 in the semifinal runchase against Punjab that
tilted the scales in a tense situation.
There are three medium pacers in Shalabh Sriwastava, Uday Karkera and
L Balaji, the first two being left armers. Shalabh has come on by
leaps and bounds since his showing in the Under-19 World Cup in Sri
Lanka last year where he was India's leading wicket taker. Lean as a
flagpole, he reaped a respectable 31 wickets in eight Ranji and Duleep
Trophy games this season. Mumbai's Karkera and Tamil Nadu's Balaji
have not had a chance to parade their wares beyond the cauldron of age
group cricket.
Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan created ripples by bowling India to victory
almost singlehandedly in the first Youth 'Test' against England in
Mumbai. However the left armer has not been an unqualified success in
the more demanding first class arena. While he struck an abrasive
115 at No.11 for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji pre-quarters against Delhi,
Vidyut's been a bit of a letdown in his primary role as a bowler,
averaging 56 in five games. Off spinner Mulewa Dharmichand also had a
rude initiation into first class cricket: in three Ranji Trophy games
for Karnataka he took a solitary wicket at an average of 189. The
third tweaker is a leggie, Gujarat's Salil Yadav who did adequately
well in the Cooch Behar, and makes for an improvement on last season
when there wasn't a single wrist spinner in the NCA. Two other leg
spinners in the same age group have been far more successful, Sandeep
Sawal and Amit Mishra; instead both have to remain content with a
place in the North Zone Academy at Delhi.
But they should not be too disappointed on that count. The most
heartening aspect of the NCA's role this season has been the
establishment of five regional centres with the avowed intention of
standardising coaching techniques across the board. Coaching personnel
at the zonal centres are no less qualified. The facilities may not be
comparable to that at HQ just yet but that is likely to be resolved
quickly in the aftermath of the reconnaissance mission conducted last
month by a two member inspection committee comprising Director Brijesh
Patel and Polly Umrigar. That is the biggest success of the NCA: the
initiation of a more federal structure with the transfer of power to
local units. Instead of an elite and miniscule bunch of 20 fortunate
trainees, it has thrown open the window of opportunity to a wider
section of aspirants, numbering over 120. The outcome is likely to
produce a uniformly high standard, and raise the level of competition,
all portents that augur well for the future of the game in this
country.