Ramiz Raja has praised the role of legendary batsman Rahul Dravid in developing the young Indian players and said Pakistan needs someone like him to unearth talent.
Lamenting the 203-run defeat against India in the semifinals of the ICC Under-19 World Cup, Ramiz said he was pretty shocked at the margin of loss.
He, however, was not surprised, given that the Indian colts were better trained to handle pressure situations.
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“I am impressed with the temperament shown by some of the Indian players. They have a fine find in Shubman Gill and others. Dravid deserves a lot of credit for preparing and grooming them so effectively,” he said.
Ramiz said having a cricketer of Dravid's calibre at the helm was a big boost for the India U-19 team.
“They learn such a lot from him - not just about cricket but about everything else. How to conduct oneself, how to develop the game sense and so on,” he said.
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Ramiz was disappointed with the lack of batting talent in the Pakistan U-19 team. “The way our players fielded and batted - it wasn’t pleasant to watch. I think in Pakistan, we need a total revamp of our youth cricket system. The Cricket Board needs to pay a lot more attention to youth cricket,” he said.
The former captain believes a respected stalwart of Pakistan cricket should be given the responsibility of developing the young players.“We need to have given someone charge for a proper time period like India has done with Dravid,” he said adding that youth cricket was not about winning but about scouting new players and then developing them for the future.
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