Hrishikesh Kanitkar: We’re in the right direction

India U19rsquos Asia Cup victory against Sri Lanka on Friday is the ideal stepping stone for glory in the U19 World Cup scheduled to be held in the West Indies from January 14 The Yash Dhullled team outclassed Sri Lanka by nine wickets via the DL method in DubaiIn a rainhit 38over final Sri Lanka were restricted to 1069 in 38 overs thanks to Pune boysmdashleftarm spinner Vicky Ostwal 311 and offspinner Kaushal Tambe 223Hrishikesh KanitkarIndia provided a sizzling reply riding on Mumbaibased opener Angkrish Raghuvanshirsquos unbeaten 56 7x4 and onedrop Shaik Rasheedrsquos 31 not out India reached the revised target of 102 in 213 oversHead coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar reckoned this triumph is a good confidencebooster before the World Cup ldquoItrsquos a fine achievement We are moving in the right direction as far as the U19 World Cup is concerned They are playing as a team which is very importantrdquo the former India batsman told Sunday midday from DubaiTeamwork paysKanitkar who played 34 ODIs and two Tests credited teamwork ldquoIndividual performances have been very good But a lot of players contributed so itrsquos not like we depended on one or two players Thatrsquos a good sign and from a coaching point of view itrsquos nice to have multiple contributors But we canrsquot relax because itrsquos World Cup going to be a bigger challengerdquo he saidKanitkar 47 who is remembered for his lastball boundary that took India over the line against Pakistan while chasing 314 in the Independence Cup final in 1998 at Dhaka was disappointed when his boys lost to the archrivals by two wickets last weekldquoSome of our batsmen got out just when they needed to push the game along Losing wickets to regular deliveries cost us the game and we learnt from those mistakes We were also in a tight spot against Afghanistan but we were able to win that gamerdquo Kanitkar explained Kanitkar lavished praise on captain Dhull ldquoHe is a very good leader He is very proactive very dynamic on the field and reacts to situations well His mindset is flexible depending on what the situation demands He is not predictable which is a very good sign for a captainrdquo High expectationsHowever Dhullrsquos Delhibased coach Pradeep Kochar who has been with him since he was 11 is disappointed with his wardrsquos performance Dhull managed 115 runs from five gamesldquoI was expecting more runs from him He scored 63 against UAE in the first game He should have converted that into a big knock He got out for a duck against Pakistan He needs to work on his shot selectionrdquo Kochar said