Party spills over to India

It took no time for the party, which began in the under-19 dressing room in Kuala Lumpur, to spill over to India as friends and families...

It took no time for the party, which began in the under-19 dressing room in Kuala Lumpur, to spill over to India as friends and families of the players became instant celebrities.

Anticipation had been in the air at Tanmay Srivastava’s house in the Alambagh locality of Lucknow right from the morning. With his father Manoj already in Malaysia, mother Rosy and sister Kopal were watching the action on TV with members of his large joint family. As wickets started tumbling, laddoos came out of boxes piled up in a corner.

Finally, as Siddharth Kaul bowled the last delivery, fire-crackers started going off in the neighbourhood and Tanmay’s cousins began dancing to drum beats.

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Neighbours started pouring in, and could the crews from news channels be far behind?

Dozens of mikes were thrust before Tanmay’s mother with questions about India’s win and her son’s performance. For a first-timer, she did an excellent job, handling it all with confidence.

Speaking to The Indian Express, she said: “I was reminded of the days when he played with a plastic bat and I bowled ‘lollipop’ deliveries to him.”

His sister Kopal said: “I’m waiting for my brother to return so we can go for another round of celebrations.”

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Over in Gujarat, another household in a small, nondescript village called Adahadatoda, in Jamnagar district, was busy watching cricket.

Instead of Sachin’s century in Sydney, their eyes were glued to the under-19 match in Kuala Lumpur because Ravindra Jadeja was playing his second successive final.

They were tense after India were bowled out for 159. “Our hearts were beating fast. We felt it might turn out to be a repeat of 2006 (when they lost to Pakistan),” said Naina, Ravindra’s eldest sister.

After play resumed, Jadeja took two key wickets to change the game. “That was when we knew our dream can be realised. Ravindra called up right after the match.” Then, the party started.

Scoreboard

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India U-19: T Kohli c Malan b Parnell 1 , S Goswami c Hendricks b Arnold 6 , T Srivastava c Engelbrecht b Adams 46, V Kohli c Engelbrecht b Malan 19, S Tiwary run out 20, M Pandey c Barnes b Arnold 20, R Jadeja c Vandiar b Vallie 11, Iqbal Abdulla run out 9, P Sangwan c Barnes b Adams 13, S Kaul not out 1, A Argal c Barnes b Parnell 1

Extras (lb 2, w 10) 12

Total (all out; 45.4 overs) 159

Fall: 1-3, 2-27, 3-74, 4-83, 5-120, 6-122, 7-137, 8-150, 9-158

Bowling: WD Parnell 7.4-2-21-2, M Arnold 10-0-30-2, PJ Malan 9-1-23-1, RA Adams 8-0-38-2, MY Vallie 9-0-33-1, SA Engelbrecht 2-0-12-0

South Africa U-19: PJ Malan c Goswami b Argal 2, JT Smuts run out 5,RR Rossouw c Jadeja b Argal 0, RR Hendricks c Goswami b Jadeja 35, JD Vandiar c Goswami b Jadeja 3, WD Parnell c Pandey b Kaul 29, RA Adams lbw b Iqbal Abdulla 1, BG Barnes b Kaul 19, M Arnold not out 1

Extras (lb 5, w 3) 8

Total (8 wickets; 25 overs) 103

Fall: 1-5, 2-6, 3-11, 4-22, 5-72, 6-75, 7-102, 8-103

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Bowling: P Sangwan 5-2-14-0, A Argal 5-2-7-2, R Jadeja 5-0-25-2, S Kaul 5-0-26-2, I Abdulla 5-0-26-1