Rahul Dravid is India Under-19 coach for ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 ©Getty Images
The Indian cricket team on Thursday made a winning start to their campaign in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016, when they defeated Ireland by 79 runs in the Group B match at Dhaka. Former Indian batsmen Rahul Dravid and India U-19 coach went on to social media (Facebook) to congratulate his team for their first win in ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 against Ireland where he mentioned, “India U-19 off to a winning start. Beat Ireland by 79 runs. #U19WC Indian Cricket Team”. After setting a daunting target of 269 to win, India Under-19 cricket team produced a strong performance to bowl out Ireland for mere 189, thus registering a big win first up in the tournament. READ: ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016: Rahul Dravid stresses importance of rotating strike
One of the key aspects that the former India captain Dravid focused on, as the coach of the national colts squad, is the ability to rotate the strike. The 16-team Under 19 World Cup starts on January 27 and India is in Group D along side New Zealand, Ireland and Nepal. Top two in each of the four groups will go to the quarter-finals. Dravid was satisfied with the preparations of the squad going into the tournament, which India won thrice (2000 in Sri Lanka, 2008 in Malaysia and 2012 in Australia). Dravid at conference in Mumbai of U19 World Cup where he mentioned he feels with both the captain and vice captain Rishabh Pant being wicket-keeper batsmen, the latter will keep wickets in the World Cup. READ: Indian U-19 cricket team confident of good show in World Cup, under Rahul Dravid: Sarfaraz Khan
More than winning the tournament, Dravid said he would be happy to see the players growing to represent the country at the senior level. India’s U19 captain Ishan Kishan praised Dravid and also mentioned about Dravid always advising his team about the right and wrong steps in the game.