Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and group have registered international centuries early in their careers, courtesy the hard yards of U-19 and India A.
Every cricket team goes through a transition period. It takes a while to get accustomed to the rigours of international cricket. Not for the Indian youngsters who are turning heads early in their careers. Most fresh faces have centuries in international cricket, a feat unimaginable a decade ago.
Abhishek Sharma is the sixth youngster from India, after Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, who had a mirror-cracking entry into international cricket. The left-hander's 46-ball 100 came only in his second T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare.
The Intense Grind in U-19 and India A
Abhay Sharma, who has worked with India A and India U-19 teams since 2016, highlighted why India has been able to manage potential replacements for senior cricketers quickly.
“We [the coaches] have been hard on them at the junior level. By doing so, sometimes they start hating us as we have often pushed them into the hard yard. They understand now that it has been effective,” Sharma told SportsBoom.com.
“Almost 13 players from the previous U-19 and India A teams have regularly been playing for the country since 2016. It starts with wicketkeeper-batters Pant and Kishan, pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan, batters Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Abhishek, followed by Yashasvi and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi from the 2020 batch.”
Sharma feels the Indian Premier League also has a role in their quick maturity. “We have been working to build their skill sets. They are maturing early, and the credit also goes to the exposure in the IPL. At the U-19 level, we ensure they are as good as an international player,” says Sharma, now the coach of the Uganda national cricket team that debuted at the T20 World Cup this year.
Stat Attack
Pant has five Test hundreds and an ODI ton against England in Manchester. Kishan smashed a double against Bangladesh.
Shaw started with a Test ton but fell in the pecking order due to injuries. His U-19 teammate Gill stamped his authority with six ODI hundreds, four in Tests and one in T20Is. The 24-year-old is also the youngest to score a double ton in ODIs against New Zealand in 2023.
The batch of 2020 found Jaiswal. He entered the pool with three Test hundreds and a T20I ton against Nepal at the Asian Games. Twenty-seven-year-old Ruturaj Gaikwad, who climbed up through the India A and domestic cricket ranks, flaunts a T20I ton against Australia. “They are not a new baby to international cricket. They are well-established and do not take much time to season,” adds Sharma.
Abhishek was initially a middle-order batter who could bowl left-arm spin. The coaches encouraged him to open. “He was comfortable in the No 4 or No 5. We decided that he could be better at the top order. He is not a heavily built guy, and he uses the pace of the bowler. Somebody who does that will be good as an opener, plus he plays all cricketing shots. He doesn't slog much. He hits where the ball is,” says Sharma.
Building Self-Sufficient Minds
Former India international Hrishikesh Kanitkar coached the fresh U-19 team to a World Cup victory earlier this year in South Africa. He stressed the need to develop minds.
“There are zonal and national camps. We are thinking of working on all aspects of cricket and not just working on technique. There is a mental, physical and tactical side. The effort is to make them self-sufficient so that they can solve their own problems.”
“Once they go in the middle, there is no coach there. They shouldn't be looking at the dressing room to see what the coach is saying or waiting for a message,” Kanitkar tells SportsBoom.com.
Kanitkar, who appeared in 36 international games for India, feels the coaches should not unnecessarily try to tweak techniques. “The mistake that coaches make is that they go into the technical part. They look at videos to analyse the foot movement or balance, but many times it is caused by something in the mind. Unless that gets sorted, the mistake will repeat under pressure,” he adds.
Besides the batters who have put up a brave front, off-spinner Washington Sundar [64 international wickets], leg-spinner Bishnoi [43 international wickets], and pacers Avesh [34 international wickets] and Khaleel [29 international wickets] have been successful with the ball.
The future of Indian cricket is not only bright, but dangerous for the opposition teams.
