U19 World Cup 2022: Ravi Kumar’s timely emergence adds ‘X-factor’ to India’s campaign

Coming into the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2022, Ravi Kumar was never in the limelight among the players to watch out for from the Indian camp. The focus always hovered around Rajvardhan Hangargekar for his extra-pace and power-hitting skills down the order. However, these dynamics are bound to change slightly following India’s quarter-final win against Bangladesh in Antigua on Saturday, in which the 18-year old Bengal left-armer produced an exhibition of swing bowling.

It was Ravi’s sensational spell with the new ball (7-1-14-3), which set up the victory for his team. Right from his first over, the left-armer was all over his opponents. Bowling with the wind in his favour, the youngster swung the ball both ways and tested the techniques of the Bangladeshi batters, who failed to respond.

Ravi removed the top three batters and left Bangladesh tottering at 14 for 3 in the eighth over. They never recovered from those early blows and eventually were bowled out for a below-par 111.

“Sir, plan simple tha. Inke sath hum pahele bhi khele hai (Under-19 Asia Cup in the UAE and prior to that in a tri-series in Kolkata). Suruwat ke 20 over me inpar dabab dalna tha aur wo hamari team ne bakhubi kiya. [Our plan was simple. We had played against these guys before. We wanted to put pressure on them in the first 20 overs and our team executed that gameplan brilliantly],” ‘Player of the Match’ Ravi said after the match.

Well, much like his ability to execute gameplans perfectly, Ravi’s career journey has also been quite intriguing so far.

Son of a CRPF personnel, Ravi was born in Kolkata. Later his family moved to Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, where he started playing tennis ball cricket. It was during one such tennis ball tournament that local coach Arvind Bhardwaj spotted his talent. He spoke with Ravi’s family and brought him back to the city of his birth.

After coming back from Aligarh, Ravi started playing club cricket in Kolkata maidan, much like what Mohammed Shami did during his initial days. First, he represented Howrah Union and then shifted to Ballygunge United Club to play first division cricket.

For a left-arm pacer, the ability to bring the ball back into the right-handed batter is considered a prime wicket-taking weapon. For Ravi, it has always been a part of his natural skill set. Hence, soon he made some sort of a reputation for himself as an attacking bowler at the club level.

Ravi made it to Bengal Under-19s in Vinoo Mankad Trophy in the 2021 season and from there the selectors included him for the Challenger Tri-series in Kolkata as a replacement for one of the first-choice players.

It was the lucky break that the youngster needed and he never looked back from there.

He was picked in the India Under-19 squad for the Youth Asia Cup which took place in the UAE just prior to this World Cup and featured in all the games as a new ball partner of Hangargekar. Ravi took four wickets in four games with an economy rate of 4.5. In one of the fixtures against Pakistan, he almost defended eight runs in the final over.

After landing in the Caribbean, the left-armer took 4 for 34 in a high-scoring warm-up game against Australia — the opponent whom India Under 19s will face in the semis.

Unfortunately, Ravi is yet to bowl his full quota of overs in any match since none of the opponents have lasted 50 overs so far. Ideally, the Indian team would want this trend to continue at the business end of the tournament. Though from a personal point of view, the pacer would like to maximize the opportunities in this televised competition prior to the IPL auction to showcase his talent.

Remember, at the senior level the selectors are always in search of quality left-arm pacers, and since the likes of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan retired they have been struggling to fill in that void. At this point, it will be premature to declare Ravi as an option to fill that spot but the youngster certainly seems to have the potential.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.