Indian cricket has found a bunch of potential superstars during the recently concluded ICC Under-19 World Cup. Prithvi Shaw’s team were almost untouchable as they romped to an eight-wicket win in the final against Australia.
Quite a few members of the victorious Indian team are being seen as definite India prospects. Here we take a look at the lesser known facts about the up-and-coming stars.
Shaw is a prolific scorer at the domestic level.
PRITHVI SHAW
Shaw used to wake up at 4:30 every morning to prepare for the 70-km ride from his house in Virar to the training facilities in Mumbai. In 2010, his family was ‘gifted’ a flat closer to Mumbai by a local politician and that cut his travel time in half.
Ishan Porel and five other India U-19 World Cup winning stars who can break into the senior side
In 2013, a 14-year-old Shaw entered the record books after hitting 546 runs during a Harris Shield inter-school match for Rizvi Springfield against St Francis D’Assisi. It was the highest score by an Indian in minor cricket. It was the same tournament in which Sachin Tendular shot to fame with a world-record partnership of 664 runs with Vinod Kambli.
Shaw scored a century in his Ranji Trophy first-class debut last year, hitting 120 against Tamil Nadu in the semi-final. Has hit five centuries and three fifties in nine first-class games.
Playing in the Duleep Trophy in 2017, Shaw hit 154 on debut to become the only cricketer after Tendulkar to score a ton in his first outing in the domestic tournament.
Mavi suffered a knee injury early on.
SHIVAM MAVI
Started out as an outswing bowler. Mavi suffered a career-threatening knee injury in 2014 at the age of 15 during a zonal camp while sliding on a plastic cover.
Suffered a Grade 2 tear to his ACL but decided against surgery and opted for physiotherapy. He was guided by Kings XI Punjab bowler Anureet Singh, who himself had suffered a similar injury.
Mavi started to bowl at full pace but his body and wrist position automatically compensated for the knee injury and he started to bowl inswing.
He bowled regularly to Afghanistan players during their training in Greater Noida, near New Delhi. Played a few Afghanistan inter-squad matches.
Nagarkoti suffered a shoulder tear last year.
KAMLESH NAGARKOTI
Born in Rajasthan, Kamlesh’s father was a ‘subedar’ in the Indian army. He was first spotted in the cantonment area in Jaipur at the age of eight.
Impressed India U19 coach Rahul Dravid, who monitored his progress.
In June last year, Nagarkoti suffered a shoulder tear after a tour of England. The injury needed three months to heal and put a question mark on his ability to bowl quick again. He regained full fitness to clock speeds of over 145kph during the Under-19 World Cup and clinch a $500,000 IPL contract with Kolkata Knight Riders.
Gill is one of the most promising young batsmen.
SHUBMAN GILL
Shubman’s family moved from Jalalabad in Punjab to the cricketing hotbed of Mohali in 2007 to improve his career prospects.
At the age of 14, scored a triple century in an Under-16 state level match in Punjab and shared a world-record opening partnership of 587.
According to his father Lakhwinder, Shubman takes fitness very seriously. Shubman is extremely strict when it comes to his diet and, according to Lakhwinder, has not consumed sugar in one and a half years.
