India U-19 cricket team shaped an extraordinary performance in the final of ICC U-19 World Cup against Australia. Prithvi Shaw-led Boys in Blue created history by winning a record fourth title, beating Australia by eight wickets in the World Cup finals in New Zealand. A special achievement by Indian team is it is unbeaten throughout the tournament.
It was a record-breaking 4th U-19 World Cup title that India has won so far in the history. The BCCI, Coach Rahul Dravid were overwhelmed with the players and their outstanding performance throughout the tournament.
Minutes after team India defeated Australia in the ICC Under 19 World Cup final 2018, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a reward of Rs 50 lakh for coach Rahul Dravid and each member of the team. All the other members of the support staff will get Rs 20 lakh each by the board.
But, India U-19 Rahul Dravid questioned the inequality in cash prizes between him, the support staff and members of the team after returning home from New Zealand. In his words, Dravid asked BCCI: ‘Why the disparity in cash prizes between him, his support staff and the winning squad?’
These words from the head coach himself have taken the Internet by storm and we now know the attire of Dravid towards the team. He is hugely respected for the very apt reasons. Now, after a while, Indian U-19 pacer Nagarkoti has come forward and spoke about the head coach Dravid. He went saying that the whole team was scared of the coach.
Batsmen Shaw and Shubman Gill piled on the runs as expected. But it was Manjot Kalra’s century and Kamlesh Nagarkoti’s fast bowling that clocked surprisingly more than 140 Kmph which eased the game at the end. In an interview to Mumbai Mirror, he opened up about his experiences in New Zealand.
Now, post all the buzz, Nagarkoti recollects when Dravid did not let them indulge their adventurous side. Talking about the coach’s suggestions, “he said the tournament was going on, and there was no point in taking any risk,” Nagarkoti said.
“He would allow us to do a few things here and there, but we had to be back in our hotel by a certain time.” He then added that they were in fact scared of Dravid and never thought of breaking the curfew he had put in place.
“Actually we were a bit scared of sir. And we thought we should not break the curfew, so we never did it. Honestly, we didn’t. Well, we did think about it a few times but then we reasoned that ‘nahi yaar, sir would have had something in mind when putting a curfew in place, so let’s follow it’, adding that he hopes to take a late night stroll in Australia sometime in the future.”
The young fast bowler who will be part of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League, also revealed that his first autograph was of Rahul Dravid’s when the team was together for the Asia Cup.