“Aap sach bataiye, kya aapko laga tha hum wahan se jeet sakte hai? (Tell me honestly, did you think we could win from that position?)” Mahendrasinh Chauhan asks.
The position he was referring to was the one his student, Mohit Ulva, found himself in when he walked into bat in Saturday’s Under-19 Asia Cup final. Chasing 338, India were reeling at 252/8 in the 42nd over.
Not many would have backed a number 10 to score a match-winning 49 off 26 deliveries. “At that stage, it seemed difficult. Arey isi ko to player kehte hai! (This is what I call a player),” Chauhan exclaims, his delight evident. “In my dictionary, a player is someone who can win his team matches from positions where everyone would expect them to lose. That is what Mohit did today. He turned the game on its head.”
At his academy in Jamnagar’s Cricket Bungalow Ground, the very place that gave Indian cricket one of its finest all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja, Chauhan’s students bask in the glory of their friend’s astonishing knock at Al-Amerat. They had been glued to the television since the first ball. Chauhan, however, has not watched a single delivery.
Mohit Ulva turns the impossible into reality! 👌
A sensational unbeaten knock to take India to the U19 Asia Cup title in the most dramatic fashion.
#SonySportsNetwork #SonyLIV #PAKvIND https://t.co/N8mzQgns9X
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) November 14, 2026
“I never watch matches when any of my students are playing. To be honest, I get too anxious. If they lose, it breaks my heart. It was the constant buzzing of my phone that made me realise Mohit did something special.”
Chauhan’s comprehension of India’s precarious situation was limited to the scorecard. Those who lived through it will tell tales of premonition — a third consecutive U-19 Asia Cup final defeat loomed large. Until Mohit walked in.
Like he did, in the summer of 2015. “His father Maheshbhai, who works with the Railway Police Force, brought a seven-year-old Mohit to my academy. I was already coaching 300 kids and did not really have the bandwidth to take new students, but isme junoon tha (this kid had passion).”
Mohit, like almost every kid in Jamnagar, was mesmerised by the city’s very own superstar, Ravindra Jadeja, who had established himself as a world-class cricketer by then. He wanted to emulate the all-rounder, but would have to undergo the same grind that honed the 2008 U-19 World Cup winner.
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“My coach Mahendrasinh Chauhan in Jamnagar would make us run and field; only then you can bat,” Jadeja once reminisced during an interview with The Indian Express. Chauhan adds: “Mohit had to do the same. He had to run five laps of the ground six days a week. On the seventh, he would have to run 25. I call this ‘military’ training. Before Mohit was made to work on his skills, I worked on his physical and mental strength.”
The latter was on display against Pakistan. “He had started out as an off-spinner, but I thought that with his height and physicality, bowling off-spin would not be the optimal use of his frame. So, I asked him to transition to pace bowling.”
It was his other, less talked about trait — batting — that earned India the victory. “He has always been a good batter. It is because of the team composition that he bats at number 10 for India U-19, but he is a much better batter than what his position suggests,” says Chauhan.
Mohit’s knock did not come as a surprise to Chauhan, but he is not alone in that assessment.
INDIA, AGAINST ALL ODDS! 🫡
From the brink of defeat to the top of Asia! Mohit Ulva delivers a knock to remember, sealing a sensational win for India in the U19 Asia Cup final against Pakistan! 🏆
#SonySportsNetwork #SonyLIV #PAKvIND https://t.co/tcdZduKIs4
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) November 14, 2026
“Pakistan probably thought he could not bat, but I knew he could,” Sridharan Sharath, former chairman of BCCI’s Junior Selection Committee, tells The Indian Express. “My selection committee, along with the head of Centre of Excellence, VVS Laxman, decided that we must build our team in a way where everyone can bat. That’s the concept we have been working towards all these years.”
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Sharath adds: “Whenever Mohit goes to bat, he thinks of himself as a pure batter. That is the mentality we have tried to instil. He knows that he can win games because he has created that self-belief by winning games for his state with the bat. That’s what attracted us about Mohit when we watched his domestic matches — he would always find a way to contribute for Saurashtra.”
Beyond his all-round skills, Mohit’s stoic nature stood out when Sharath selected him for the 25-member Under-19 squad for BCCI’s high-performance camp.
“He is a very balanced guy. His reaction when he does well is the same as when he does not do well. He is very calm, methodical and focused, which impressed me a lot.”
The post-triumph celebration is the most animated Sharath has seen from his players. He puts it down to Pakistan’s ‘instigative celebration’ after their group-stage victory.
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Chauhan, however, has seen none of it. He has more pressing things lined up.
“I have a pav bhaji shop that I operate alongside coaching. I will pray for Mohit at a temple now, and then head to my shop. Bazaar thoda thanda hai (business is a bit cold).”
That, it might be, but his mentee, on Saturday, was smoking hot.
