Under-19 World Cup heroes return home

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U-19 skipper dedicates win to mentor Sundar

While the world was coming to terms to India’s rising star Unmukt Chand’s brilliant show in the final of the Under-19 World Cup, the man credited with initiating the youngster into the game was quietly content with something he foresaw long ago.

Unmukt’s uncle, Sunder Chand Thakur, though, did have a small celebration at his home in Mumbai far away from all the spotlight in Townsville and Delhi.

Thakur, resident editor of a leading Hindi daily, has been Unmukt’s mentor, friend, philosopher and guide since the day he spotted the talent in his four-year-old nephew.

No wonder, Unmukt shares everything ‘under the sky’ with his chachu. The 44-year-old is Unmukt’s go-to man. The two speak two to three times daily and the frequency has gone up since Thakur moved from Delhi to Mumbai in 2010.

“We have a connect like the BBM (Black Berry Messenger). I told him when he was very young - we have a contract, beta. Till Standard XII, you will do whatever I tell you. And he responded.

“I was sometimes pushy, like making him run 10 kms when he was in 7th or 8th standard. But he is a determined boy and he completed the tasks despite being tired,” Thakur told this paper on Tuesday as he headed to the airport to receive Unmukt.

That the youngster had resilience was quickly evident. At age six, Unmukt was hit by a delivery from his father Bharat, and despite a bloodied nose, went on to practice for three hours.

“When he was six, we (me and my brother) started his practice with a leather ball. We requested the DDA to cut the grass and clean the nearby park. We prepared the pitch ourselves with hand hoes.

“But on the first day itself, a fast delivery from his father hit him despite the helmet and we decided to pack up. But since we had worked so hard for that, he decided to continue and complete the session.”

Even as Unmukt picked up the nuances of the game, he also developed an understanding from an outsider’s viewpoint as his uncle coaxed him to read articles that would help him understand the sport better.

“Earlier, he was not interested in reading, but picked up slowly. One thing that came out of it was that he became articulate. Even today, if I find something good on the internet, I forward it to him and ask later if he had read it or not. But these days he is really short on time,” he said.

And yes, the habit of diary writing was inculcated by his uncle, who also sets targets for him.
“Sometimes, I realise that I have set a target which is too high to achieve, so I scrap it giving one reason or the other. But sometimes, he gives me the skip.”

Thakur said that he had promised to run the Mumbai Marathon, if Unmukt would score 1,000 runs in the last Ranji season. Unmukt got nowhere near the mark, but forced his uncle to keep his part of the promise.

Chance for India juniors to graduate

Should Unmukt Chand, India’s under-19 World Cup winning captain, be fast tracked to the senior team? The likes of former international captains Ian Chappell and Wasim Akram certainly think so, but Chand is ready to bide his time.

The 19-year-old, who hit a match-winning unbeaten 111 in the summit clash against Australia, said he’s not looking too far ahead, and the focus for him, right now, is to consistently deliver for India A.

“We are very happy to win the World Cup. I think I was fortunate to score the hundred when my team needed me most. I have been selected to play for India A, and I am looking forward to doing well there,” said Chand at BCCI’s felicitation function for the victorious Indian team.

“The final was an important match and I wanted to do well. Some days you click and some days you don't. I wanted to take India to 226 and I was successful and I am really happy about it. I take one tournament at a time. I want to play for India but don't want to think about it now. I want to do well for India A,” he added.

India’s U-19 coach Bharath Arun, while happy at his wards’ performance, said the boys need to keep performing to sustain their success.

"Under-19 is a good platform and the boys have showcased their talent and proved that they are good enough. Our boys are extremely talented and can match anybody but they need to be more matured as a player. It would be a bigger challenge to climb up the ladder now," he said.

"The fielding was good and even the bowling we were facing were in the range of 140 and even some of them were bowling at 150 too. Everybody contributed, may not be quantity wise but quality wise. It was all about handling pressure and they did that. I am sure some of them will go on to play at the highest level soon," he added.

Harmeet keeps his promise

The first time the late Dilip Sardesai laid eyes on Harmeet Singh during a school game at the Bombay Gymkhana seven years ago, he likened the left-armer to spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi.

The loop and the deception was all there, Sardesai observed to Harmeet’s coaches Padmakar Shivalkar and Dinesh Lad. It was a stunning comparison, not just because Harmeet had barely reached his teens, but also because his initiation to the sport had been very recent.

Harmeet had been crazy about football as a kid, doubling up both as a forward and the goalkeeper for his school side. “The school he went to didn’t have any cricket facilities, and since his family had no sporting background, they never knew the kind of talent this kid had.,” said Lad, also Rohit Sharma’s childhood coach.

“It was only after Harmeet got into a fight with a neighbour’s kid that compelled his father to enroll him in a cricket camp to keep him from causing any more trouble.”

Although he was very good in football, he was a natural in cricket. It shocked his father when Harmeet returned home from the cricket camp, with a prize and a certificate. “He was considered the best talent at the camp, which was a surprise to us since we always thought he was more interested in football,” said his father Jasveer Singh, a middle-class businessman.

“He obviously used to watch cricket when Indian team was playing, just like any other child his age, but would switch off the TV when Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly got out. We never thought he’d be so interested in the game.”

Harmeet soon became a regular in the Mumbai junior cricketing circles, and stunned many, bowling with control and guile that should have beyond his level of maturity. The news spread fast, and it was enough to draw the attention of the then Mumbai Ranji coach Parveen Amre who gave him the spinner his Ranji debut two years ago.

Harmeet, however, found it hard to contain runs, not willing to compromise on his loop. He played only rarely for Mumbai last season, but his performance at the U-19 World Cup has showed that he has found other ways to keep the batsmen in check.

“I’m telling you he’s such a fine talent that on potential alone he should be playing for the Indian senior team. He’s way ahead of the competition, and I feel he needs to be challenged more,” said Amre. “But I also realise that he’s just a kid, and his career needs to be handled carefully.”

Harmeet will turn 20 on September 27, a year short of Bedi, when the latter Test debuted for India against the West at the Eden Gardens Indies in 1967. The next year will be crucial for the footballer-turned-spinner.