It was an innings to get out of pressure: Sarfaraz

Adjudged man-of-the-match for his swashbuckling 59 from 27 balls, India Under-19 batsman Sarfaraz Khan said it was an innings he played to get out of pressure.

Sarfaraz hit nine boundaries and three sixes en route to his unconquered knock and helped India beat Bangladesh by seven wickets in the tri-series final held here at the Jadavpur University ground on Sunday.

"In the last three matches, I could not quite perform. So to get out of pressure I chose to go after the bowlers in this game. As they say attacking is the best form of defence, so I did that. I went out to bat and saw that I was connecting the ball well, so I kept on playing my shots," the 18-year-old told mediapersons here.

When Sarfaraz went out to bat, India were in a spot of bother at 42/3 chasing Bangladesh U-19's total of 116. But the batsman said coach and former India captain Rahul Dravid told him to play his natural game.

"Rahul sir told me to go out there and play my natural game and that is what I was trying to do," he said.

Asked about Dravid he said, "Sir is such a legend. We can't even believe now that he is really coaching us. When we turn on the television and see some old cricket matches, and we see him (Dravid) batting and now we have him as our coach, which is quite unbelievable. The best thing about him is that he is very calm. Whenever there's a match, he does not hold a meeting right after it, he does it after a day, so that helps us regather our thoughts as well."

"I was having a rough patch through the last few games but he told me to try and learn from my mistakes and nothing else."

The Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman, who had some impressive outings in last season's Indian Premier League (IPL), also believes they would do well in the upcoming U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in January next year.

"We are a very good team, and we are confident of doing well. But you also have to have luck by your side, but I believe Rahul sir's experience is going to help us there and hopefully we will do well," Sarfaraz said.

He added that moving from Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh was a decision taken by his family and he has got no problems with it at all.

"It was family decision, and I respect it. I love my family and whatever they have done is correct. I have no problems with it," he concluded.