Decades ago, this writer came across a quote, which went as follows, “The most valuable lessons aren’t taught, they are experienced.” If you spool back to present times, this quote repeatedly echoed in the mind while witnessing India Under-19’s major collapse against Pakistan Under-19 in the Men’s Under-19 Asia Cup final in Dubai.
So, what went wrong for the Indian team in the final? What could they have done differently? And how will this heartbreaking experience help them to improve? Before taking a deep dive into the different disciplines of India’s engine room, it didn’t make much sense that the Indian think-tank opted to bowl on what seemed like a good deck for batting.
Basically, such a decision gives a chance for the opponent to set an imposing target in a final. A connecting point is, historically, Pakistan are better at defending a target, with their pumped-up pace bowlers putting on spirited displays. That is what exactly happened in the summit clash as Sameer Minhas laid the groundwork with a sterling hundred and their pace bowlers then took over by dismantling the opponent.
Now, let’s come to the main course – India’s batting display. Obviously, the focus here would be on Vaibhav Suryavanshi. As far as raw skills are concerned, the young prodigy, still in his teens, is a treasured gem. With his eye-popping bat-speed, he can play strokes that many others can’t. But he perhaps didn’t remember his coach’s insight of using different types of ‘footwork’ during the 2025 IPL.
“The thing was that you’re playing with a single footwork, where you become very predictable,” Manish Ojha, Vaibhav’s coach, had said this to the writer of his pupil. “The front foot goes towards leg stump; over the covers or point or midwicket you will end up playing. I suggested that he watch Yashasvi Jaiswal’s batting. He was using three-four kinds of footwork. The first one was going back and across, the second one getting into the line of the ball – he was taking his front foot towards the pitch, a few deliveries he was taking the front foot away from the line, so that he could hit over covers, point and all.
“He was also waiting without any movement so that if he faced a short ball, he could adjust his weight on the back foot and play the upper-cut or slash it over point. If you become predictable with your footwork, very easy for the bowlers, they can quickly plan – where to bowl according to your footwork and counter it. But if you use 3-4 types of footwork and play as late as possible, then what could happen is that the bowler might get confused and would try to contain. That is when you might get loose deliveries, and you can capitalise on it. See, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and even Jaiswal, they play very late. Even Vaibhav has tremendous talent, equal talent, all he needs is to apply (himself) while batting.”
The point to note is his tendency to clear the front leg for almost every ball. It worked a few times, which included a sumptuous stroke over extra cover. But on that occasion, the length was fuller from Ali Raza, and in the batter’s hitting zone. When the Pakistan spearhead pulled back his length, and angled it across, Vaibhav could only get a thick edge and was dropped. Eventually, Vaibhav’s one-mode style of batting resulted in his dismissal.
To summarise, the arc of his swing path comes more from the gully region and then he tries to clear the front leg. The opposition team would also observe it, with the right-arm pacers being instructed to bowl more hard lengths and push it across the left-hander to produce the edge. If Vaibhav had listened to his coach’s wisdom, he might have gone on to get a bigger score. While chasing a substantial target, intent in the Powerplay is fine, but it is also about choosing the right delivery to land the big shot. Hopefully, he will learn his lessons.
Aaron George, his teammate, looks like a batter who sticks more to the edicts of batsmanship, but he too got carried away. The right-hander had crunched three consecutive boundaries off Mohammed Sayyam. Subsequently, when the left-arm pace bowler nailed the short ball with good height on it, George attempted to take it on, but he could only eke out a top edge to square leg. In good climes for batting, and with plenty of overs to spare, he could have resisted the temptation to smash every ball to the boundary hoardings. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Vihaan Malhotra and Abhigyan Kundu then were intent on sticking to T20-mode batting – Clear the front leg and give it a mighty heave. In longer formats, it is difficult to play this way for long, especially versus pace attacks with some pedigree. Not surprisingly, both of them perished. Kundu was given a lifeline but he couldn’t make the most of it.
At a macro-level, the essence of India’s problems was probably down to not looking at ways to tweak their methods alongside modest shot selection. It wasn’t just the batting that let India down. The bowlers also couldn’t execute their plans and the fielding too was below average. Perhaps, the Under-19 colts couldn’t handle the big-game pressure.
In the final analysis, the already-mentioned quote once again flashes in the mind. Hopefully, the promising cricketers will learn from their mistakes and become better versions of themselves.
Follow Revsportz for latest sports news
