The U19 squad is the squad that the country does not follow and that the IPL scouts do, and the IPL scouts follow it because the U19 squad is the squad that the IPL auction is built on, and the auction is built on the players who are, at eighteen, the players who the scouts have watched in the Cooch Behar and the Vinoo Mankad and the Challengers, and the watching is the watching that the scouts do, and the scouts do the watching because the watching is the thing that tells them who to bid for, and the bidding is the thing that the mega auction is, and the mega auction is the thing that is, in two years, going to have these names in it.
The Names The Scouts Are Watching
There are three names in the squad that the scouts have, since October, been telling each other about. The first is a left-handed opener from Mumbai who scored six hundred and forty runs in the Cooch Behar at an average of ninety-one, and who the scouts have, in their notes, compared to Shikhar Dhawan, and the comparison is the comparison that the scouts make when they see a left-handed opener who plays the ball late and who hits the ball through the off side, and the playing late and the hitting through the off side are the things that the IPL pays for, and the IPL pays for them because they are the things that win matches in the powerplay.
The second is a right-arm fast bowler from Punjab who has been clocked at a hundred and forty-three kilometres per hour, and the hundred and forty-three is the number that the scouts write down, and the number is the number that the scouts write down because the number is the thing that the IPL overpays for, and the overpaying is the overpaying that the auction has, in the last five years, made a habit of, and the habit is the habit that the scouts know and that the franchises know and that the players, at eighteen, do not know, and the not knowing is the thing that the agents will, in two years, fix.
The third is a leg-spinner from Karnataka who bowls the googly more than the leg-break, and the googly is the ball that the IPL has, in the last three years, not had enough of, and the not enough is the not enough that the franchises have been telling the scouts to find, and the scouts have found one, and the one is the one who is in the squad, and the one is the one who will, in two years, be the one who the franchises bid on, and the bidding will be the bidding that the googly commands, and the googly is the ball that the U19 World Cup will, in February, show the world, and the world will include the IPL scouts, and the IPL scouts will be watching, and the watching is the thing that the scouts are paid for.
What The U19 World Cup Will Tell Us
The U19 World Cup is in Malaysia, in February, and the World Cup is the tournament that the scouts attend, and the attendance is the attendance that is, for the scouts, a working trip, and the working trip is the working trip that decides the auction budgets, and the auction budgets are the budgets that the franchises set, and the setting is the setting that the U19 World Cup informs, and the informing is the informing that the country does not see and that the IPL, in two years, will show the results of, and the results will be the results that the U19 squad, announced on Monday, will produce, and the producing is the producing that the scouts are watching for, and the watching is the watching that the rest of us will do, in two years, when the names come up in the auction, and the names come up in the auction and the hammer comes down and the money is the money that the U19 World Cup, in February, will have earned them.
