Walking up to talk to former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull, who was hosting the post-match presentation ceremony after the 2018 ICC Under-19 World Cup final, Manjot Kalra looked nervous.
SD: “How does that feel? A hundred in the final of an ICC World Cup?”
MK: “It was a very great feeling. I enjoyed a lot.”
SD: “How did you find the conditions out there?”
MK: “The conditions were really very good. It wasn’t a difficult wicket – it was flat so it was easy to bat on.”
SD: “How have you found to be a part of this team?”
MK: “In the team it’s been a great environment. I’ve enjoyed that.”
SD: “Congratulations, Manjot. You played magnificently today. Well done!”
MK: “Thank you.”
Doull tried his best to get the Player of the Match of the Under-19 World Cup final to speak up about his match-winning unbeaten century. Suffice to say he wasn’t successful in opening up the 19-year-old. Kalra may not have been very fluent with his words but his century on Saturday was the very definition of it.
He teed off with a huge six over long on off a free hit in the fourth over and then never looked back. Throughout his 71- and 60-run stands with captain Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill, Kalra went for his strokes. After Gill got out with the score at 131/2, he changed his strategy as wicketkeeper-batsman Harvik Desai walked out, knowing he would have to be there till the end.
“I knew I needed to take charge of the game. [I knew] that if I got out, the new batsmen would have a problem settling in,” Kalra said in the post-match press conference, where he was a bit more open. He may not talk a lot on camera, yet, but he sure knows how to express himself where required – on the field.
Kalra will have to get used to giving such interviews now, especially after heading back home to India with the victorious Indian team, which won its fourth U19 World Cup title.
He will be eulogised in the Indian press and media, who will grapple with each other to get his first interview after returning home.
He will be compared to great Indian cricketers – a process that has already begun on social media, where people have found shades of Yuvraj Singh in his aerial heaves in the V, a hint of Sourav Ganguly in his cover drive, and traces of Gautam Gambhir’s big-match temperament. Dig some more and you might find comparisons with some other left-handed batsmen.
In the spotlight
Before the final, Kalra found himself a few inches away from the spotlight, which was hogged by his captain Shaw, fellow batsman Shubman Gill, and pacers Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi, all of whom were bought for upwards of Rs 1.2 crore in the Indian Premier League auction last week. Kalra was picked up at his base price of Rs 20 lakh by the Delhi Daredevils. That, now, appears to look like the bargain of the auction.
Kalra is, now, bang in the centre of the spotlight.
But the 19-year-old from Delhi would do well to think nothing of such comparisons.
Kalra joined Unmukt Chand, Brett Williams, Stephen Peters and Jarrad Burke in the club of batsmen who have hit a century in an Under-19 World Cup final. While that is great, he’ll only have to look towards the other names in that list to know what to guard himself against. None of the other four ended up playing for their senior national teams.
Chand, also a Delhi boy like Kalra, was the star and captain of the 2012 U19 World Cup-winning Indian team. He was branded the next Virat Kohli – another Delhi boy – by the Indian media after his heroics in the tournament, which also included unbeaten century in the final, incidentally against Australia as well.
Chand is only 24 and he’s still keeping his head above the water in India’s domestic circuit. You can’t rule him out of earning the chance to wear India’s colours again but he hasn’t managed to do so for six years since that 2012 World Cup final.
‘Greatness begins here’
This was the tagline of broadcaster Star Sports’ promotional videos ahead of the U19 World Cup. While that may have been true for the likes of Kohli and Yuvraj Singh before him, it’s hardly the case for everyone who wins the U19 World Cup.
From Kohli’s 2008 U19 World Cup-winning squad, only three others apart from the captain, ended up playing for India – Ravindra Jadeja, Manish Pandey and Abhinav Mukund. From Chand’s 2012 team, none.
Unlike the senior 50-over World Cup, which is considered the pinnacle of the sport, winning the Under-19 title is only the first step to greatness. For Kalra, Shaw, Gill, Nagarkoti, Mavi and all the other Indian youngsters who made a name for themselves in this World Cup, the path to greatness has been opened, if you will.
India U19’s head coach Rahul Dravid, a man considered to be a legend of the game world over and someone who never won a World Cup – senior or junior – in his playing career, perhaps put it in the best way when describing what this win means for his team.
“It’s a memory they’ll cherish for a long time and hopefully it’s not a memory that defines them,” he told Doull after the match. “[I hope] they will have a lot more bigger and better memories as they go on ahead in their careers.”
For Kalra, Shaw and Co, this is only the beginning.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!