India 'pretty confident' of success

India coach Venkatesh Prasad had said he is "pretty confident" his side can win next month's U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka.

"We have qualified for the Super League semi-finals in the last two World Cups (since winning it in 2000)," he said. "This time around we would like to go one step closer to the trophy or even win it and I am pretty confident we can achieve that."

To the casual observer that claim might sound like a touch of arrogance, but one look at India's form ahead of the tournament shows they have every right to be considered hot favourites. They beat Australia 4-1 in a one-day series at home last September and followed that by winning the six-nation Afro-Asia U-19 Cup in Visakhapatnam in November. India won all six matches they played in that tournament, including a comprehensive eight-wicket thrashing of Sri Lanka - one of their upcoming opponents in Group C - in the final.

Their successes in the past few months have definitely been team efforts and the perfect build-up to a tournament India won last time it was staged in Sri Lanka, but this squad also has individual stars to look out for in February.

Opening batsman Gaurav Dhiman hammered 423 runs in the Afro-Asia Cup at a strike-rate of better than a run-a-ball including two hundreds - 121 and 105 (in the final) - against Sri Lanka and 108 against Zimbabwe. And allrounder Piyush Chawla was India's most successful bowler against Australia (eight wickets) and in the Afro-Asia Cup (15 wickets) with the latter haul including 5 for 24 in the final against Sri Lanka. But if those two players do not fire on any given day there are plenty of others who have shown themselves capable of producing match-turning performances instead.

Cheteshwar Pujara was another star with the bat in the Afro-Asia U-19 Cup with 80 against Pakistan and an unbeaten 65 in the final against Sri Lanka, while captain Ravikant Shukla and Debabrata Das also made half-centuries in Visakhapatnam. Mayank Tehlan made some useful contributions with the bat against Australia and in the Afro-Asia Cup and he has the pedigree of being the cousin of Virender Sehwag, himself a former player in the U-19 World Cup in 1998.

India have plenty of other bowling options apart from Chawla, including seamers Saurabh Bandekar and Vijaykumar Yomahesh, the off-spin of Rohit Sharma and the left-arm wrist-spin of Ravindra Singh Jadeja. "They are very committed (and) enthusiastic and there is a willingness to work hard to achieve the team goal more than their own," said Prasad of his players.

The coach, who played 33 Tests and 161 ODIs as a high-class seam and swing bowler for India between 1994 and 2000, has clearly got his side playing great cricket but, refreshingly, he also wants them to play in the right spirit as well. "I would expect my team to be one of the best on and off the field," he said. "Winning is important for us but that is not everything. (Also important is) playing the game hard with controlled aggression and good sportsman's spirit, making new friends off the field, getting to know their culture and sharing ours."

India's form coming into the tournament is one plus point for the side but so is the draw, which - without being disrespectful to their opponents in Group C - has been kind to them. In addition to Sri Lanka, India are also set to face two Associate sides, Scotland and Namibia, and unless something remarkable happens that should ensure a safe passage to the Super League stage as two teams progress from each group. If they do progress then anything is possible and Prasad remains wary of the threat posed by several other sides in the tournament.

"Sri Lanka have got home advantage and are a very good team on the sub continent," he said. "Pakistan won the previous World Cup and is also good in these conditions and Australia has a very good fielding side and also good batting depth."

And while Prasad recognises a tournament win would be an end in itself for himself and his players, he also knows it could just be the start of something much bigger for some of his young stars. "I think [winning] it would mean a lot to every one of us for the kind of effort we have all put in through planning, practicing, supporting one another and enjoying each other's company and success," he said. "But this would also be a platform for most of the players to break into the higher level as there is a lot of competition in our domestic circuit."

India squad Ravikant Shukla (capt), Piyush Chawla, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Saurabh Bandekar, Debabrata Das, Gaurav Dhiman, Ravindra Singh Jadeja, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohnish Parmar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pinal Shah, Rohit Sharma, Mayank Tehlan, Vijaykumar Yomahesh.