Indian fans have given some hilarious reactions to a video of a toddler’s impressive batting skills.
Fans of the Indian men’s cricket team have suffered quite a bit at the hands of Australia in the recent past. Australia have beaten India in three ICC tournament finals across age groups over the past one year and this has led to many wondering if India can ever beat the six-time world champions if they face them in a final again.
The toddler hit some impressive pull shots (Instagram. )
Australia have traditionally been among the strongest cricketing nations. They have enjoyed multiple periods of domination, most consistently under the captaincies of Steve Waugh and later Ricky Ponting. They have a proud tradition of producing generation after generation of talented batters, and bowlers of both kind – pacers and spinners. Now, fans seem to have spotted a potential future star with the video of a toddler managing some impressive hits with the bat going viral.
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The kid can be seen hitting a couple of very good looking hook shots. At one point he also dives at the end of taking a run and then raises his bat and cap to show his way of celebrating a century. The video of the toddler have been put out on Instagram through a handle that goes by the name Hugo Maverick Heath, described as the toddler’s account in the bio. While most on social media seem to have assumed that he is Australian, it looks like he may in fact be South African. There are a few comments on the kid’s Instagram handle clarifying the fact and there is also a picture of him at an SA20 game holding a Durban Super Giants flag.
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A post shared by Hugo Maverick Heath (@hugo.heath_cricket)
The video blew up on Twitter. Here are some of the reactions that came to it. Apart from the fact that users were talking about how this shows Australia’s dominance isn’t going away any time soon, some even said that the kid could be a right-handed David Warner.
Australia have done a number in the finals of ICC tournaments over the past one year. Pat Cummins’s side beat India in the World Test Championship final in June last year. India were then the outright favourites to win the World Cup they were hosting later in the year, having dominated pretty much every team they faced going into the final. However, Australia stunned them by staying ahead throughout the game and winning the final by six wickets. It gave Australia a record-extending sixth World Cup title and also broke the run of hosts winning the tournament, which had started with India winning it in 2011. Finally, the Indian team were similarly dominant going into the final of the U19 World Cup on Sunday, with their batting lineup particularly earning praise. However, folded for just 174 runs while chasing a target of 254. It marked the first time since 1999 that Australia beat India in the U19 World Cup.
