“You could feel this guy is something different” – Rahul Dravid on star India wicketkeeper from his U19 batch

Former India head coach Rahul Dravid recently expressed his gratitude that several players from his U19 batches went on to represent the Indian Cricket Team. He pointed out several names, including wicketkeeper-batters Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. The 52-year-old stressed that both of these cricketers showed extraordinary skills at a very young age. Notably, the duo recently won the 2024 T20 World Cup trophy with the Men in Blue under his coaching.

Dravid also gave special mention to India’s new Test captain Shubman Gill and the currently top-ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma, among the talented pool of players from his U19 batches. The Rajasthan Royals (RR) head coach further named the Punjab Kings (PBKS) opener Priyansh Arya and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Anshul Kamboj, who recently made his Test debut in England during the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

Speaking to Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel (via Kutty Stories), Dravid said:

“When you see Rishabh for the first time, you could feel that this guy is something different. If I look back at the 2016 batch… Even someone like Khaleel Ahmed - he’s sort of still finding his way, not being able to crack that way. As you move on, Shubman Gill was pretty much in the next batch. There was Prithvi Shaw.

“When I first saw Sanju Samson, I worked with him, but when I first saw Sanju as an 18-year-old, he looked like a million bucks. So many names are not mentioned, and I would be unfair [to them]. It’s not one kid that makes you, ‘wow,’ [but] it’s just the talent coming through the Indian system that makes you go wow.”

The former India captain continued:

“What was really exciting to me, and I see that now, is that there are so many people, and everyone remembers the guys who went on to play. The Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, and Abhishek Sharma, all of them. There are also a bunch of guys who are playing consistently well today, and they didn’t make those World Cup squads. They were there and thereabouts.

“Like Priyansh Arya, who missed out on the squad, but he was part of the U-19 team that toured South Africa. Even Anshul Kamboj was in one of our teams, but never made it to that national setup. There are quite a few kids like that who are now playing quite well and having really good careers,” Dravid added.

Priyansh Arya had a breakthrough IPL 2025 season with runners-up Punjab Kings (PBKS). The 23-year-old smashed 475 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate of 179.24, including a ton and two fifties during his maiden season. Meanwhile, Kamboj bagged eight wickets in as many games at an economy rate of 8 for the Super Kings franchise.

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“I wasn’t very obsessed about the result” – Rahul Dravid on winning the U19 World Cup with Team India in 2016

Rahul Dravid further shared his love for coaching and grooming youngsters, saying he wasn’t obsessed with winning the 2016 U19 World Cup. He said in the same video:

“We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare that U-19 batch, and I wasn’t very obsessed about the result. What fascinated me was the kind of preparation we can give for the next batch of U-19 players. That became the exciting part. Saying that we’ve got another World Cup in 2 years. It wasn’t just about the World Cup. It was about giving exposure to not just the 15 guys who would be part of the World Cup squad.”

“There was a slightly larger pool of kids, with almost 30 of them. Over the next two years, how can you give them more opportunities? Organize more tours and convince the board that there needs to be more U-19 tours and India A tours. At one point, there was a nice arrangement with Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa. The three A teams always played in August. We organized it well. It was a really good thing. One year, we played in Australia, then in India, and then in South Africa. I toured with them for all three,” Dravid added.

Notably, the 2016 U19 World Cup win (under Ishan Kishan’s captaincy) was Rahul Dravid’s first-ever ICC trophy. He also won the 2018 U19 World Cup with Prithvi Shaw.

On the senior level, Dravid guided Rohit Sharma-led India to 2024 T20WC glory. Under his coaching, the Men in Blue also reached the 2023 World Cup and 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) finals.