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Nagarkoti makes fast progress
The sensational news from New Zealand from the Under-19 World Cup for India was that Kamlesh Nagarkoti, an 18-year-old Rajasthan fast bowler, clocked 146 km/hour during the match against Australia. More importantly, it was not just Nagarkoti, but India’s new-ball bowler Shivam Mavi too clocked in excess of 140 during Australia’s chase of 328 during that match.
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Chennai
It is not important for a fast bowler to clock such speeds but significantly the duo bowled consistent line and length throughout, giving no room for the batsmen to score.
After all, Vernon Philander does not bowl over 140s and his wicket-taking balls are somewhere in the 128-135 bracket. Nagarkoti was impressive with his speed and length; he had a good yorker, one of which had Sutherland bowled.
The performances of the young lions in New Zealand send out a clear message that the Indian pace department is looking up and within a year the two will be up there competing for a place with the likes of Umesh Yadav, Shami and Ishant Sharma.
More than India’s margin of win, 100 runs against Australia, which has won the Under-19 cup thrice, what should please coach Rahul Dravid is the fact that the top order was firing with captain Prithvi Shaw (94 off 100 balls) and Manjot Kalra (86 off 99) putting on 180 off 178 balls.
Vice-captain Shubham Gill too came to the party with a polished half-century. If at all there was any flaw in the team, it was in the spinners’ column as three of them bowled left-arm and so lacked variety.
One of the left-arm spinners Abhishek Sharma hit the ball hard with the bat (23 off eight balls) and was instrumental in India reaching 328. Nagarkoti took three wickets and looked good enough for more.
Before the tournament, the future prospect eye was trained on Prithvi Shaw but as the championship progresses, there will be at least two more men emerging out of the boys.
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