India’s way to back youngsters an example for Bangladesh!
Image : ICC
||CF Correspondent ||
The history suggested Bangladesh never backed their young players with utmost patience and no one from the team management fought when it comes to back a certain player for a prolonged period.
But if you turn your attention to Indian cricket, you would find that the captains fought hard for young players and back them regardless of all criticism. The trend started from the captaincy era of Sourav Ganguly, the current BCCI president, who fought for the likes of Virendar Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and later they left cricket with rich legacy. MS Dhoni fought for the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma who are now the heart of India team. Similarly, Kohli, Sharma was fighting for the current young players, who were facing harsh criticism from the social media outlet, media and general people regularly. But they stood by them and gave them courage to overcome all adversities.
And the example of how they fought for a player to give him enough opportunity is Rishab Pant and inexperienced bowling line.
Criticism poured on those youngsters like Rishab Pant, Krunal Pandya to miss those chances which were the key in India’s seven-wicket defeat to Bangladesh in the first game.
Rishab Pant missed some crucial stumping chances in both matches while Pandya put down a simple catch of Mushfiqur Rahim, who latter drove the side home, playing an unbeaten 43 ball-60.
Critics however seemed to be harsher on Pant than Pandya as the young wicket-keeper failed to inflict stumping on Soumya Sarkar when he shared a crucial partnership with Mushfiqur to put shed on India’s victory. Pant even couldn’t do anything worthy when his chances to show his talent came in the first game.
Despite the ongoing criticism of their performance, India captain Rohit Sharma urged all to keep patience on the young players and at the same time vowed to give them more opportunities regardless of the criticism.
“You know there is a lot of talk happening about Rishabh Pant every day, every minute. I just feel that he needs to be allowed to do what he wants to do on the field,” Rohit said.
“I would request everyone to keep their eyes away from Pant for a while. He is a young guy, 21 or 21, trying to make a mark in international cricket. Every move he makes on the field people start talking about him. It is not fair. I think we should allow him to play his cricket which actually he also wants to. Focus on him a lot more when he is doing good things also, not just bad things. He has been learning, he has kept well also. He is trying to do what team management wants him to do. He is a fearless cricketer and we want him to have that freedom. And if you guys take your eyes off him for sometime, it will allow to perform even better.”
He also backed Rishab Pant and Shreyas Iyer, another young player to thrive in International cricket very soon.
“Both of them are very talented. Have great abilities in whatever they do. Definitely the future of Indian cricket and they have proved that in all levels. Rishabh has been around for a year to two, Shreyas has been in and out but now he looks settled in ODIs, trying to make a mark in T20.”
India’s inexperienced bowling line up was also a cause of concern but Rohit has no headache about it, saying they would give them more exposure to establish them.
“Yes, they are slightly inexperienced. This is the right time for them to learn. We always say you should play domestic cricket and learn. But I feel that till you play international cricket, you won't know where you stand as a bowler,” he said.
“This is a very good challenge for the whole bowling group, because you are playing against an international team and an international team will always challenge you. Their batsmen will always challenge you, play shots, put you under pressure.”
“So that's why we can't judge these bowlers so quickly. Right now, these are players who have only played 5-10 matches. They will only learn by playing more games.”
