U-19 Cricket World Cup: Why Virat Kohli is in awe of Prithvi Shaw’s Indian team

Virat Kohli, who led India to U-19 Cricket World Cup title in 2008, feels Prithvi Shaw’s side is even more confident than his team was a decade ago. Shaw-led India will face Australia in the 2018 final

India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday backed the national U-19 squad to win the World Cup final against Australia and said he will be closely tracking the title clash on Saturday.

Virat Kohli met with India’s ICC U-19 cricket World Cup team in Mumbai ahead of tits departure to New Zealand. (Twitter)

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“It feels amazing (to see them do well). I interacted with them before they left and it’s a lovely bunch of boys. Compared to our lot (when India won in 2008 under Kohli), the confidence levels are somewhere else which is a great sign,” said Kohli, ahead of the first ODI against South Africa on Thursday.

“You’ll see many people making a strong statement for themselves much earlier than we all did. They’ve done amazingly well and the semifinal (against Pakistan) was an amazing game.”

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Kohli said the boys look set to win a record fourth U-19 world title.

“Playing such a high pressure game (against Pakistan), 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. I want to wish them all the very best for the final.

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“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,” he signed off.