Dubai: The captains of India’s Under-19 cricket World Cup triumphs have often gone on to hit the road to stardom – Virat Kohli being the most recent example. However, as Vijay Zol takes guard to lead India’s title defence in the showpiece in the UAE next month, he does not want to put himself under undue pressure with any such thoughts.

“I am not even thinking on those lines as, for me, playing the World Cup for India is a big enough motivation. The team has been on a high in recent times and we hope to carry on the momentum,” Zol told Gulf News in a telephone interview from India.

Zol had been the vice-captain to Unmukt Chand when India won the last edition of U-19 World Cup in Australia in 2012.

The current lot of India’s youth team players have been on a hot streak — having won four back-to-back tournaments — the last one being the Asia Cup in the UAE earlier this month when they held their nerve to edge out Pakistan in a tense final.

Incidentally, it will be arch rivals Pakistan against whom India open their campaign once again at the World Cup. The two teams will meet in a group match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on February 15.

Asked if it will be a battle of attrition, Zol played down any thought of pressure.

“We are not worried by the opponents, for the team has peaked in all three departments of the game in recent months. It’s a question of who plays better cricket on the given day,” said Zol, one of the batting mainstays of the team along with the gifted Sanju Samson. The Asia Cup final had both of them firing centuries to lay the foundation for India’s win.

It was barely two years back in December 2011 when Indian cricket fans woke up to a special talent from the sleepy town of Jalna in Maharashtra. Playing for his under-19 state team, Zol batted for almost 11 hours for an unbeaten epic innings of 451 – making heads turn. While there are no official records to ratify the score as a world mark in youth cricket, he had surpassed Bhausaheb Nimbalkar’s 443 — the highest first class score by an Indian, set in 1948 during a Ranji Trophy tie.

Things started to move for him early next year when Zol, already a member of the youth national team, was offered a contract by the Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). While skipper Unmukt Chand grabbed the limelight with a match-winning century in the final of the U-19 2012 World Cup against Australia, Zol’s temperament as a reliable No.3 batsman came in for wholesome praise.

Asked about his philosophy in batting, Zol said: “While it depends on the match situation, my team requires me to bat throughout the innings and I try to respond to it as best as I can.” The obvious question of whom has he modelled his batting on follows and Zol approaches it with caution: “There is nobody in particular, but I have been influenced by the batting of a lot of people, like Yuvraj Singh, Kohli, Suresh Raina, while I also admire Michael Hussey a lot.”

It’s a matter of conjecture if he can finally graduate to the senior level, but Zol seems to be the latest in the assembly line of talents coming out of the small towns of India. Much like Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Ranchi or Raina’s Ghaziabad, Jalna is the most unlikely of places to have produced an international cricketer — and the 19-year-old acknowledges with embarrassment that he has become a celebrity of sorts there.

“There is hardly any infra-structure available back in Jalna, though more youngsters are taking up to cricket now. I am happy to contribute in my own way,” said Jol, who landed the M.A.Chidambaram Award for the Best Under-19 cricketer last year.

Asked if there is a greater element of hunger to succeed among the youngsters from smaller towns, Zol readily agreed. “Yes, you can say that. We do have to walk that extra mile and hence, we crave for success badly,” he said.

Zol also can’t thank Bharat Arun, the Under-19 India coach, enough for the role that he has had in shaping his career. The former India paceman was the coach during their last World Cup campaign.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that he means much more to us than just a coach. I can walk into his room with any problem and I must say that he and the entire support staff have stood behind us like a rock over the last three years,” he said.

IPL hopes

Contrary to his friend and teammate Samson’s exploits in the IPL, where he won the Most Promising Player’s trophy while playing for Rajasthan Royals last season, Zol’s place had been in the dugouts of Royal Challengers Bangalore for the last two seasons. Will his current exploits change all that? “I don’t know what the future holds, but all I can say is that sharing the dressing room with all these international stars has been an invaluable experience.”