Venkatesh Prasad grateful to the BCCI for accepting his suggestions

Venkatesh Prasad headed a three-member selection committee for the U-19 World Cup. The former Indian bowler Venkatesh Prasad has also played an instrumental role in India’s U-19 World Glory. Although nothing can be taken away from all the effort from the players and the coaching staff, the former Indian bowling coach and his team also had an import role in the U-19 World Cup.

To arrive at the best for India’s 15-member squad, Prasad & Co tried out close to 60 players in the process. They followed up every players’ progress keenly before arriving at the final conclusion. Venkatesh Prasad looked very pleased with the youngsters’ performance and lauded their efforts. He also noted that the team arriving in New Zealand early helped to adjust to the conditions.

The idea behind trying out 60 players revealed

It took many people by quite a surprise when the selection committee decided to conduct trials for 60 players. Prasad spoke to the Mid-Day about this in an exclusive interview and said that he wanted to keep everyone’s hopes alive. He added that they wanted to make sure that they are all equally important and are part of this framework. Further, he said that this would have given the players confidence and much-required motivation.

“We didn’t want to have just a 25-player pool. We wanted to give opportunities to as many players as possible to showcase their talent. I want to thank the Board for hearing us out and organize tournaments and matches against various foreign teams. That gave the boys the experience and confidence to play on the global stage,” Prasad said.

Given all the success and recognition these players have got, Prasad said that it was very important for them to be humble and grounded. He also said that they should focus on the process rather than focus on the IPL. Moreover, he opined that these youngsters couldn’t have got anyone better than Rahul Dravid. To conclude things, he said that he hoped that the youngsters asked Dravid enough questions.