I was stunned by some of talented U-19 cricketers, says Virat Kohli

India under 19 cricket team won the World Cup earlier in February this year under the captaincy of Prithvi Shaw. They defeated Australia by eight wickets in the final of the tourney which was played in New Zealand. Recently, the world cup-winning under 19 skipper Prithvi Shaw was included in the Indian squad for last two Test matches in England. A few members of the team have also been drafted in the IPL teams from last season and Kohli is mighty pleased with their performance. Virat Kohli, who also won a U-19 World Cup as a captain back in 2008, revealed that he was surprised by the talent that the youngsters possess. 

"I saw some of these guys in the IPL as well and I was stunned by some of the talent. You have two guys bowling almost 150 clicks and someone like Prithvi Shaw playing shots that I couldn’t even imagine at my age, hitting some of the fastest bowlers in the world for sixes at the IPL that were quite astonishing," Kohli told The Wisden.

"I believe that you have to be accepting and comfortable with the fact that the next generation is always going to be better, and you have to bring in these guys accordingly and unleash them at this level. I’m not someone who will wait for people to go through the whole grind and see how they go in four, five or six years, because you might just lose out on the best years of their life."

The Indian skipper also mentioned that he wants these youngsters to get proper guidance from the seniors and said that he will also guide them so that they don't commit the same mistakes at the young age.

"I look forward to guiding the young guys in the team to not make the same mistakes that probably I made when I was their age because I want them to have three more years of quality cricket compared to going up and down, struggling here and there and then finally finding their feet. If I see someone making the same mistakes that I committed and I cannot correct them, then it’s my failure," the Indian captain mentioned.

"In my initial years when someone around me would say ‘You’ve been looked at to play for the Indian cricket team’ I would lose perspective about what needs to happen right now, and I don’t want that to happen with them. But I’m very confident these guys will make it to the top level very, very soon and some of the guys are mature beyond their years."