Debasis Sen, Durban: Indian captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday wished the India U19 cricketers ahead of their final against Australia on Saturday. The entire Indian team has been following the winning run of junior cricketers in the tournament.
“It feels amazing. I interacted with them before they left; it’s a lovely bunch of boys,” said Kohli ahead of India’s first ODI against South Africa at Kingsmead.
According to Kohli, “They were very welcoming and very confident in speaking about the game as well. I was very happy to see that. Compared to our lot, the confidence levels are somewhere else which is a great sign. You’ll see many people making a strong statement for themselves much earlier than we all did.”
Talking about their performance in the tournament Kohli said, “They’ve done amazingly well, specially the semifinal against Pakistan was an amazing game as well. Playing such a high pressure game, they really stood up and that’s what you want to see. You want to see people standing up when it’s needed the most.”
Kohli, himself led the country to glory in 2008. The entire senior team will be following Prithwi Shaw and his teammates in the final against Aussies.
“I want to wish them all the very best for the final. We’ll all be following very keenly and we’ll be eagerly waiting to see them lift the Cup again. I believe they have the talent, and they believe in that much more than I do, which I think is very, very important,” said Kohli.
Kohli met the young cricketers before arriving here in South Africa. Here goes the video of his wish: