The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : We should have more tours: Vengsarkar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 24, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

We should have more tours: Vengsarkar

BANGALORE, JAN. 23. Dilip Vengsarkar, former India captain and chairman of the BCCI Talent Resource Development Wing, stressed the need for selecting players from the under-19 and under-23 age-groups for the India `A' team.

"The under-19 and under-23 are the most crucial age-groups. They form the nucleus of a national side. We should select these players for the A team. There is no point in selecting a player who is over 25 or so," Vengsarkar told the media here during the course of the first Test.

Vengsarkar reiterated the need for an organised plan for nurturing junior cricket in India. "This under-19 series against England is possibly the first series in a long time. It is good they have organised this series but it should be on a reciprocal basis and we should also play good sides like Australia, England, South Africa and Pakistan...no point in playing Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. We should have more tours and we should also have a proper plan and programme," he said.

Vengsarkar also demanded the need to improve pitches. "We have to improve our sub-standard pitches but nothing is being done and in this situation it is imperative that we have more under-19, under-23 or `A' tours to countries like Australia, South Africa and England where our junior players will get to know the conditions abroad and adapt. This is essential because right now, it is more of hope for us that this batsman will score or that bowler will take wickets rather than being confident of their abilities," he said.

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