Despite having a small target to defend and not being backed up in the field, India’s U-19 bowlers turned in a magnificent performance
George Binoy in Kuala Lumpur04-Mar-2008
Ajitesh Argal picked up the Man-of-the-Match award for his superb bowling © Getty Images
In September 2007, India’s bowlers played a vital role in thebatsmen-dominated Twenty20 format and won the inaugural World Championshipin South Africa. In Malaysia, a younger set of bowlers ensured that theUnder-19 World Cup, which had threatened to slip away after a battingfailure in the final, was the centre of attraction in the dressing roomduring the post-match celebrations. India were undoubtedly a cut abovetheir opposition in Malaysia and they held their nerve in the final to emerge champions.India’s batsmen did not have a bad day at the Under-19 World Cup, settinglarge targets and chasing small totals with minimal fuss, until the final.Their bowlers had performed efficiently throughout the tournament buttheir efforts were over-shadowed by a top-order that consistentlydelivered match-winning innings. However, with the trophy at stake, thebatsmen failed against South Africa’s medium-pacers and left the bowlersonly 159 to defend.The challenges facing the bowlers were several. Apart from a low target,the rain interruption gave South Africa a total that was further reducedto 116 off 25 overs. A wet outfield resulted in a slippery ball which washard to control for the medium-pacers and difficult to grip for thespinners. And if the difficulties posed by factors outside their controlweren’t enough, the Indians had a shocker in the field: Virat Kohli andPradeep Sangwan dropped simple catches and Shreevats Goswami missed three stumpings. To overcome these hurdles and clinch the World Cup by 12 runs was a tremendous effort.To their credit, the bowlers exuded confidence from the start. Bodylanguage is an over-rated term at times but when Siddarth Kaul sprintedto the middle once the umpires had taken the field for the second innings,it indicated that India were pumped up and ready to defend the small total.India’s unlikely hero in the final was Ajitesh Argal, who wasn’t part ofIndia’s U-19 plans until they returned from a tour of South Africa inDecember-January. It was felt that the pace-attack needed strengtheningafter that series and Argal and Kaul were drafted in.Both bowlers did nothing spectacular with the ball. Argal bowled a tightline and length and troubled the batsmen with inswing that comes naturallyto him. Kaul kept it full and bowled a straight line that wasdifficult to hit, making him especially hard to get after in the finalovers. He also has a short ball which he bowls with a cross seam which isuseful on slower pitches.The early boost, though, was provided by Argal. India bowled 8.4 oversbefore the rain delay and during that period he bowled four overs and hadtaken 3 for 2. Argal’s bowling isn’t particularly quick nor does he move theball exaggeratedly, his effectiveness today was purely because he stuck tobowling in the clichéd ‘right areas’.India depend a lot on their spinners for, apart from the three front-lineseamers, they have no other medium-pace options. Ravindra Jadeja copedwith the wet ball superbly, bowling quick and fast with the sole view ofrestricting the batsman. Iqbal Abdulla, who tends to give the ball moreflight, was equally exceptional and could have had two wickets in hisfirst over if not for dropped chances. The missed opportunities, however,appeared to spur them on. Jadeja’s celebration when he had JonathanVandiar caught was a sight: he sprinted all the way down the pitch towardsshort third man. Jadeja and Abdulla’s economy-rate of five are among theirmost expensive in the tournament but it was well below what South Africaneeded and the lack of boundary balls maintained a steady gap between runsrequired and balls left.Before the final, India’s performances of note – barring Sangwan’sfive-for – were all from the batsmen. The bowlers waited until the lastopportunity and ensured that the magnificent work put in over two weeks inKuala Lumpur was not undone because of three hours of poor batting.
