Vengsarkar sees hope for Indian juniors despite World Cup loss

Indian under-19 team consultant Dilip Vengsarkar had nothing but good words for the performance of his wards in the junior World Cup in New Zealand, despite India's semi-final loss to South Africa.

The defending champions, India, were beaten by a convincing 112 runs in Auckland, losing their last six wickets for just 31 runs during the chase of a target of 269.

"It was one of those bad days when nothing went right for the team," said Vengsarkar to reporters after the squad returned from New Zealand.

"Though we lost in the semi-finals, our boys' overall performance was good," he continued. "Our strong point was our bowling, but our fielders did not give good support. We played on a very bad wicket against Bangladesh and lost during the league stage, but against Pakistan we fought hard before going down by two wickets."

"I only wish our batters had done better than what they did," Vengsarkar added. "However, we have unearthed some very fine youngsters who have a bright future, like opening batsman Maninder Bisla, Chandan Madan, Abhishek Sharma, Chandrashekar Atram and Irfan Pathan."

Vengsakar, himself a Test player of considerable note and the only non-English cricketer to score three centuries at Lord's, is also the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) appointee to spot young talent. He also runs the Elf Cricket Academy in Mumbai, a private coaching clinic for young talent.