Player watch

Well, on today’s semi-final I have been very much impressed with Corey Anderson, the big hitting left-handed New Zealander, he looks very good.

Very Chris Cairns, very Jacob Oram as well; you know the left-hander as well. Obviously looking at the way India have played because this has been India’s home ground, you look at Taruwar Kohli, he scored the most number of runs in the tournament, Virat Kohli, the captain, Tanmay Srivastava, terrific players. But I like the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja the left-arm slow, Sayyed Abdullah Iqbal, left-arm slow and Pradeep Sangwan the left-arm seamer, they have all done their bit and also we have only had glimpses of Manish Pandey, and I think he looks as good as any of them. But it is the top order that has got the runs. So we haven’t seen too much of this Indian middle order. There could be a bit of pressure now with this semi-final against New Zealand. This Indian side looks a very good side, Siddharth Kaul, Ajitesh Argal, the bowlers as well. If they jump into that national Indian side, I really believe they can.

Well it is difficult, I expect India to get these runs and I expect it to be an India-Pakistan final. And from there Pakistan is a very talented side. They have a lot of slow spinners, their batters look pretty well organized and I thought their medium pacers were good. But generally, the most all-round side is India. They look the best, they have played the most First Class cricket, they have all got First Class experience, possibly except Shreevats Goswami and his time will come, for Kolkata, Bengal down there. So it is a good Indian side. They would have to really trip up badly if they weren’t to win this. So I’ve really enjoyed this Under 19 cricket and we are seeing the stars of the future here and this has been one of the most enjoyable tournaments for me. I really wanted to do it and I am glad I am here.