Skipper Vijay Zol confident about Cup show

BANGALORE: India will enter the U-19 World Cup as reigning champions and the colts will be expected to put in a strong performance when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in the opening fixture on February 15 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Skipper Vijay Zol, who led the colts to a series of triumphs including the ACC Asia Cup in UAE, has no doubt that his side can cope with the pressure."Of course there are expectations as we have won the World Cup and have been really doing well in the past tournaments. But that does not put any kind of pressure on us instead we are enjoying it," said Zol, who was also part of the squad that lifted the Cup in 2012.
"We are the defending champions and that is a great feeling. So there is no kind of pressure on us," the Maharashtra batsman said.
Even before their Asia Cup triumph, the Indian colts were in impressive form clinching as many as three titles. They won the Tri-Nation series in Darwin against Australia and New Zealand last July. In August, the Indians bagged the Youth ODI Series in Sri Lanka 2-0. This was followed by another victory in the Quadrangular tournament held in Visakhapatnam which also featured South Africa, Australia and Zimbabwe.
The current Indian squad retains several of the players who were part of the winning run and Zol agreed that having the same set of players is an added advantage. "Yes that works because we know each other really well. As captain I know how I can take the best out of every player," said Zol, who cracked a century to help India beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup final.
The conditions in United Arab Emirates too will not be alien to Indian team "We have a good feel about the conditions in UAE and it is good that we won the Asia Cup there. We are preparing well for the World Cup," he said. India is clubbed with Pakistan, Scotland and Papua New Guinea in Group 'A'.
Zol said the squad will focus on the task at hand and will not take their opponents lightly. "There are really good teams but we tend not to think about that, it is all about how we perform," said a confident Zol, who made a memorable Ranji Trophy debut helping Maharashtra to reach their first final in over two decades.