After a successful Under-19 World Cup where the Boys in Blue emerged victorious, the cricketing fraternity is singing the hymns of praise by applauding the players. Former Indian chief selector MSK Prasad is no exception to it as he shared his opinion on the team's performance and highlighted Shaik Rasheed as the future star of Indian cricket. He compared him to former Indian captain and current head coach Rahul Dravid while underlining him as perfect no.3 for the team.
"He can be our future No. 3 in red ball and white ball cricket," Prasad quoted while speaking to Cricbuzz.
"We have just won the Under-19 World Cup and we are over the moon. The victory was a tribute to the bonding among the players and the coaches have ensured we stayed here (in the Caribbean) like a family. My future... I will take it the way it comes. I need to improve my game and I will work on it," the former chief selector said.
Prasad has a close affection for Rasheed as they both hail from the city of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. The former India wicketkeeper said that Rasheed has a bright future going forward. Prasad has played a major role in development of players in Southern Indian city of Guntur.
"He likes to score in front of the wicket and bats late, giving himself sufficient time to play the ball. Those are very good qualities. What was most impressive was his temperament. He never looked rattled when India were under pressure," Prasad added.
Rasheed, still 17 had a tournament to remember as he amassed 201 runs in four matches. He was unfortunate to have missed out on a hundred in the semi-final encounter against Australia as he was dismissed for 94 runs and put together a third-wicket stand of 204 runs as India went on to beat Australia. He also smashed a fifty in the final as Yash Dhull-led Team India won the U-19 World Cup for a record fifth time. He missed a couple of group stage matches after testing positive for Covid-19.
While Rasheed flies high, expectations will now be higher from him. History has suggested players starring at the junior level have gone on to achieve big things; Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh are prime examples who first won the junior edition and went on to win the World Cup in 2011.
