India U19 coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said VVS Laxman, who heads the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence, arranged for the team to watch the second day of the Edgbaston Test. Skipper Shubman Gill had a magnificent innings, scoring a career best 269.
The whole U19 team, with their coach Kanitkar and other support staff, were there watching, led by young Ayush Mhatre from Mumbai. Kanitkar, a former India batsman, feels seeing a day’s play live is a great way for the young batsmen to learn how to build an innings in a red ball game.
VVS Laxman really made this happen. He suggested we should go and watch the game. It’s a great experience for any young cricketer to watch a Test match, Kanitkar said in a video on bcci.tv.
The big thing I want them to take away is you don’t have to hit every ball for a six. You can still score well and get a lot of runs, like Shubman did. We’ll talk about what they learned when we get back.
He batted like a classic Test player but he didn’t just grind it out. He played his shots, picked the right balls and got into good positions. They can see if he can succeed by doing the basics well, they can too. I think that’ll be the biggest takeaway.