GUWAHATI, Feb 4: As a mother it was a very proud moment for Mithoo Barooah as her son Riyan Parag will return home after conquering the World Cup.
At the same time she also thanked God for kept him fit in the knock out stage after finger injury in the initial stage of the competition.
Talking to The Sentinel on Sunday morning Mithoo, who herself was an intertiol medal winner swimmer, admitted that it was really a proud moment for her. “Me and Parag (her husband who was also a first class cricketer) played in top level. But we were not the part of any World Cup winning team. So obviously it is a very proud moment for both of us. However we were shocked when Riyan got the injury in a practice match there which would have been a disaster.”
The intertiol swimmer feels Riyan could have deliver much better if he didn’t get hurt at the practice match. “He was in good form this season and was also capable to handle the big match pressure. Unfortutely the incident happened. When I first got the news I was shocked and was not able to move. However I must give thanks to God as Riyan was recovered quickly and maged to return into the first XI.”
Earlier, coach Dravid also admitted that. “He was in phenomel form, hitting it so beautifully in the build-up,” Dravid said. “It’s just unfortute he got injured and then has taken a while to come into his batting groove. He’ll come good.”
Entire Indian squad had gone to celebration mode after Rahul Dravid, the coach of the team, who allowed the players to celebrate the victory in their own style. The 16-year-old all-rounder took the lead in the celebration and mesmerized the moment with his spectacular dance. “The celebration continued till 3pm in the local time and it was huge. Even coach Dravid too joined in the celebration. Dance is not a new thing for Riyan,” said Mithoo.
Meanwhile, sharing her view as an intertiol athlete on Team India’s success in U-19 World Cup Mithoo said, coach Rahul Dravid played a big role. “ It was a balanced side and the team had good players in every positions. But Dravid persolly took initiative to turn the team into a single unit and it is one of the key reasons of this success.”
Indian squad will return to Mumbai on Monday and BCCI will felicitate the entire squad immediately. However it will take few more days before Riyan returns home as he will fly to Bengaluru immediately to join Assam squad for Vijay Hazare Competition.
It should be mentioned that after missing first two group matches he played rest of the matches. Batting at the middle he got little opportunity to deliver huge innings. But with the ball he shone with leg break and claimed 3 wickets including 2 against Pakistan in semifil.