U 19 World Cup final: Before you turn men, one last time boys
There are certain perks of being a captain even at the Under-19 level. One of them is that while your 14 teammates share rooms, you get one all to yourself. Although at any given time during your waking hours, someone or the other from the team is always at your door. “I hardly get one hour to myself in a day. Rest of the time they are all sitting in my room,” Ishan Kishan said on Saturday.
It’s difficult to say that staying alone for even one hour on Saturday was a privilege or a punishment for Ishan on the eve of the Youth World Cup final against the West Indies — easily the biggest moment of his 18 years of existence so far. For after taking early dinner and saying goodnight to the last of his teammates, when he would have closed the door of his room, the line between being alone and being lonely must have disappeared. All sorts of thoughts would have come rushing to his head. Anxiety, fear, pride and anticipation would have made such a cocktail of emotion that likely would have wrecked any plan of hitting the sack early for an eight-hour sleep. He would have wished there was somebody around to talk to.
As the leader of the pack, Ishan couldn’t have asked for more during the tournament or it’s build up. India have won 14 matches out of 14 played — five out of five here. Their wins in Dhaka have been comprehensive, and almost everyone has chipped in with important contributions with bat or ball. Everyone except Ishan. Other than one half-century in a small chase against Nepal, the left-handed opener’s bat has remained quiet. There was one big century in the warm-up game against Canada, but that seems to be a distant memory now. Since the main event has begun, the other opener, Rishabh Pant, has struck two half-centuries and a hundred in the quarterfinal. Another batting mainstay, Sarfaraz Khan, has made four fifties and is averaging 76. Ishan has made only 69 runs in five hits at 13.3 runs per innings.
Thirteen point three. For someone who is being tipped one of the finest young batsmen in the country, these numbers aren’t flattering. Even more so when you are captaining the team. It surely would have weighed on his mind on Saturday night. “Each cricketer has a dip in form when he doesn’t make runs. That is happening with me right now, but it is about how you are doing in the practice. The way we have practised, the confidence is built up,” he said if there was nervousness before the final, given that he had not made too many runs, and given also that the West Indies have the best pace bowling in the World Cup.
“When you are not in form, you start thinking if you have to attack in the next game. Then you get out next game while attacking and you start thinking if you have to stay at the crease. The more you think, the more confused you become. I have spoken to (Rahul) Dravid sir. If he is our coach, some advantage has to be there. He asked me to remember one good innings.”
Ishan has played many a good knock in the past. Including a coming-of-age 87 last year in a Ranji match for Jharkhand against Saurashtra where the Rajkot pitch was turning square from ball one and Ravindra Jadeja was in the middle of such a purple patch with his left-arm spin that it would see him shoehorned into the Indian team for the South Africa Test series. But that’s not the innings he would’ve remembered ahead of the final. It would be a double century in a youth level tournament. “The Rajkot innings was different. The situation on that bad wicket was that if you try to defend you will get out. So, you had to attack. In zone matches I have made 250, I thought about that. Sir told me that if I stay initially then runs will come easy to me. I don’t want to make any mistake from my side that gives West Indies the advantage,” Ishan said. In that knock, he has played ball by ball, without thinking much. “Tomorrow also I will play ball by ball, if runs have to happen they will happen,” he says.
Indeed, poor form is a part and parcel of the game. And often it has a timing that is worse than that of the batsman who is experiencing it. But win or lose, if Ishan and team give their best on Sunday, they will walk away from the tournament taller. The same applies for the West Indies, their worthy opponents who have belied all expectations. It’s a developmental event after all, and the tournament format is often unforgiving. One off day and you are out. But Youth World Cup is actually about that word Rahul Dravid so often uses: ‘process’. And while the trophy would be welcome, it wouldn’t prove what is already evident: that India have been the best team in the tournament, or that the West Indies have been the most exciting .
Therefore, while he remembers his most cherished knock ahead of the final, a good idea ahead of the final for Ishan will be to also look back at the journey and recall the fun that he and the squad members had in this four-month journey. The first time the team got together, the pranks, the boot camp near Bangalore, the bonding they forged where Sholay — that legendary movie about friendship — was shot. Day after tomorrow, most in the team will graduate from the Under-19 level. They will officially become men from boys. Expectations and pressure to perform in order to survive will start piling on thenceforth. That’s the real exam. Sunday isn’t. If at all, it’s their last off day. They need to just go have fun out there. One last time.Together.
