ICC U-19 World Cup 2018: India look to ignore IPL auction distraction as they take on Bangladesh in quarter-final

Friday’s U-19 World Cup semi-final in Queenstown might be described as an encounter of extremes. The tournament’s hot favourite, India, will take on a team with perhaps the most passionate following, Bangladesh, in what many describe as New Zealand’s most beautiful city, Queenstown. With two Asian teams already through to the semi-finals of the of the tournament, Friday’s quarter-final will decide which one will be the third to join Australia in the last four. Ahead of the game, the coaches of India and Bangladesh took opposing stances when it came to their strategies. India coach Rahul Dravid insisted that the focus would be on his own team, rather than the other side. “You can’t really worry that much about the opposition; you have to worry about your strengths and your skills”, he said. “At this level it’s hard to get a lot of data against teams. We are aware of the players, having played them at the Asia cup once. They won’t have much info about our guys, so I think it’s even-steven.” [caption id=“attachment_4319549” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File picture of India U-19 team. ICC/Getty[/caption] On the other hand, Bangladesh coach Damien Wright insisted that knowledge of the opposition would be critical. “We’re lucky to have a fantastic analyst; he’s done a lot of research on the Indian team”, said Wright ahead of the game. “You must do that… You need to know if you haven’t played against the opposition a lot, you need to look at them. We’ve certainly looked at them.” The last time these two teams met, Bangladesh registered only their second ever win against India at this level. Despite India not being at full strength in that game, with a number of players injured or playing domestic first-class cricket, that match was on the minds of the Indians as they had a light training session at the John Davies Oval. Dravid insisted that none of the players were thinking about the looming prospect of an India-Pakistan semi-final. “We’re very aware of the fact (that we lost to Bangladesh last time)”, he said. “Bangladesh is a good team. We’re not thinking past this next game. We haven’t even looked at the rest of the draw to be honest.” And yet the team is not entirely in a bubble. With the IPL auction around the corner, some of these young players will certainly be on the minds of the franchises. And conversely, their own fortunes in the auction will be on the minds of the players. Dravid though counseled them to take the long view. “We discussed it once. There’s no point pretending it doesn’t exist”, he said. “It’s not something the boys can control. It doesn’t have a real large impacts on their careers, one or two auctions. There will be auctions every year but having the opportunity to play for India in a World Cup semi-final doesn’t come very often. (So) I don’t feel worried about it. I think this group of guys is really focused on playing good cricket here.” Both teams will go into this game after a long break. Bangladesh will be playing eight days after their last game, where they lost to England at the same venue. India had a six day break as well, one that may be enough for fast bowler Ishan Porel to return to the team. Since sustaining a bruised heel against Australia, Porel has been bowling in the nets with good pace. But the Indian coach insisted that a final decision would be taken on the morning of the match, based on how his body responds to the workload he was put through in the last few days. Also, both teams will play on the same pitch that England and Australia played the first quarter-final on. That game was dominated by the bowlers: Australia were bowled out for 127, with six wickets falling to England’s seamers. But then England collapsed to 96 all out, with leg spinner Lloyd Pope taking 8 for 35. With such mixed signals, Bangladesh will be hoping that the one game they played here will give them a slight advantage. “The bounce will be little different compared to where we came from at Lincoln or where India are coming from”, said Wright. “That will be the element of surprise, we’re hoping. We’re grateful we had a game here and will use it to our advantage for sure.” This will also be the first day-game that India play; their last three encounters in Tauranga were day-nighters. Bangladesh have three left-handers in their top order, a situation that India have not faced in this tournament. India played three left arm spinners in all the games, and indicated that they would not change the combination based on the opposition, so Wright was hoping this might play in his team’s favour. “The beauty of our team is we match up better in regards to having a few left-handers. They’ve got a lot of left-arm orthodox spinners, it’s a bit of a good match-match, but at the end of the day, it’s about who comes out on top on the day.” While senior teams with unforgiving schedules look forward to some downtime on tour, a week without games is a long time for the teenage boys. Both teams will be like horses listening for the gun come Friday, and given the support both countries enjoy back home, there will be a number of people awake in the wee hours of the morning in the subcontinent.