In a chat with the Newsline, Bali said the Indian team was in fine from right from the beginning of the tournament and benefited a lot from the past tours of South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, England and Bangladesh. “The team had already toured South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, England and Bangladesh before the world cup and the players were used to tours abroad and had the necessary exposure before the Under-19 World Cup,” he said.

Bali, who lost his grandmother during the course of the World Cup, said he only wanted to win the world cup as a tribute to his grandmother and the team played as a cohesive unit. “In that moment of despair, Whatmore helped me a lot to get out of the shock and guided me to concentrate on the job,” he recalled.

Talking about the future, Bali said the experience he had gained from the tour would help him to be a better coach. “I gained a lot during this experience and we did a lot of interaction with coaches from all over the world,” he added.

Recalling that Whatmore had originally decided to have Taruvur Kohli in the middle order, Bali said it was his idea to send Kohli as an opner. “ I recommended that Taruwar Kohli should be sent to open the innings as I have watched him playing for the state side, and once the decision was made, there was no looking back as Taruvur scored highest runs in the tournament,” he stated.