Nitya Pandya’s journey to the India U-19 team

Nitya Pandya's crucial knock for India U-19 against Australia U-19, sharing his journey to the team.

Nitya Pandya might have fallen six runs short of what would have been a superb hundred on day one against Australia U-19, but his knock was crucial in steering India U-19 to a strong position.

“We lost an early wicket, so the focus was on building a partnership. We (K.P. Karthikeya and I) were not always eager to go for boundaries, we wanted to keep rotating the strike. If the strike rotation is good, the opposition will automatically feel low,” said Nitya after the day’s play.

On his journey to the India U-19 team, he added: “I hail from a village in Rajasthan; I started playing cricket there. But then I had to travel a lot to reach my coaching centre in Jaipur.

“So, then my father and I decided to move to Vadodara. Then, the Pandya brothers became famous, so we took inspiration from that and shifted. My mother, sister and I shifted, father would travel back and forth.

“When I shifted to Vadodara, it was my dream to play for the U-19 World Cup. Unfortunately, I wasn’t selected. But I kept working hard and I landed this tour. I’m grateful.”