YOMI MANTRA - HUNTERS by name, RUTHLESS by attitude, VIRAT KOHLI as idol

Tamil Nadu U19 concluded their 2025–26 domestic campaign with a heartbreaking semifinal draw against Madhya Pradesh in the Cooch Behar Trophy. They narrowly missed out on a place in the final despite a spirited performance. In the Vinoo Mankad Trophy also, the rain clouds teemed up to bring an up beat season to a unfortunate end in the quarter finals. Nonetheless, the season stood out for the team’s resilience, tactical maturity and fighting spirit across challenging conditions.

The team is coached by Yo Mahesh a former India A, India U-19 and Tamil Nadu cricketer. He represented India in the Under 19 World Cup of 2006. In this (first) episode of PRAJAI VIEW, Mr Yo Mahesh Vijayakumar (fondly YoMi) reflects on the campaign, the lessons learned, and the evolution of a young side that consistently displayed character beyond its years. PRAJAI TIMES is thankful to Mr Yomahesh for sharing his thoughts with our Mr Sujith. 

From being a professional cricketer to a commentator and now a full-time coach, how has this journey reshaped your understanding of the game, particularly in terms of tactical awareness and man-management?

Coaching has always been my true passion. Commentary happened incidentally. I always wanted to be on the ground and inside the team environment. That is where I feel most alive and I derive my energy when working with people as a coach.

 
Before this season you were associated with Dindigul Dragons as a bowling coach and with Tiruppur Tamilans as Head Coach for a season. You have also been managing 1^st Division team for couple of years. From seniors to U19, what changes in terms of approach in coaching?

In tournaments like TNPL, you work with players for barely a month. Radical technical changes are unrealistic, and buy-in is limited. At the senior or IPL level, coaching is predominantly about man-management.

At the U-19 level, however, the role is fundamentally different. These youngsters require hand-holding, reassurance, and constant reinforcement during pressure situations. At the same time, you must encourage independent thinking. U-19 is the bridge between boyhood and professional maturity, and I believe the coach plays a decisive role in that transformation.

 
You took over a team that had already won the championship and set very high benchmarks. How did you prepare yourself mentally and strategically to avoid complacency while still respecting the existing culture and processes?

Yes, before the season there were lot of talks from the outside and baggage that we should defend this. Coming into the season, I wanted clarity on the approach. Hence I sought inputs from two of my coaches Omkar Salvi (Current Mumbai head Coach and RCB bowling Coach) and Sujith Somasundar (Former India and Karnataka Cricketer) where both insisted on following my own approach rather than to imitate someone. Both of them stated no one can replicate previous season performances and hence it is better to trust your own vision and ideas.

Throughout the season, I constantly showed the boys Virat Kohli’s videos and told them I wanted 15 Virat Kohli’s in the team. I also gave them a mythical identity — “Hunters.”

We used to chant this in the team huddle before entering the field:
“Who are we? Tamil Nadu. What are we? Hunters.”

The philosophy behind that was simple and was explained in a presentation to them. We are not here to defend; we are here to dominate. Winners who defend become conservative whereas hunters remain ruthless. The boys embraced this mindset completely. 


With key players expected to leave for U19 India duties, how did you plan squad depth and balance in advance to ensure continuity in performance?

With Deepesh, Ambrish, Hemchudesan,Vineeth and Kishore leaving for India U19 we already knew we might miss them. Hence we had a Plan B in place. The camaraderie between me and Gopinath (Chief Selector) was good  and we were thinking on the same lines. Both the team management and selection committee agreed to each other’s inputs with respect to picking specific players and assigning specific roles to them.

The white-ball campaign exposed a noticeable gap in power-hitting compared to other states. In your assessment, was this due to skill limitations or mindset, training or match-situation execution?

In Tamil Nadu we lack players who are naturally well built at the age group level and can hit the long ball. In the current year we had Krish who is naturally a hard hitter and has a good bat swing. Bharath is capable of going big. Other than these two, all others can be bracketed as more of traditional players who rely more on technique and timing. The young batters from other states are striking consistently at 120 SR whereas we were going at 80 SR and at maximum will finish at 100 SR.

Since we touched upon power hitting how good was having a session with DK for the boys just before the white ball leg since traditionally our boys aren’t good power hitters and more of touch players?

The session with DK(Dinesh Karthik) was fruitful for the boys worked primarily on reverse sweeps. It was more of having him before the white ball tournament so that the boys can look upon him as an inspiration. DK is someone who has done it for the state for many years and also for the country. Also, I had planned to make Washi (Washington Sundar) or Monk(Murali Vijay) to meet the boys before red ball tournament which didn’t materialise since we had red ball camp in Theni.

What specific qualities in Deepesh and Ambrish do you believe made them stand out at the international U19 level, and how do you see their long-term trajectory?

From whatever I have seen of Deepesh he is similar to his father Devendran (Former Tamil Nadu Cricketer) in terms of attitude. He is very aggressive and confident guy. With respect to his bowling, he is nippy and can be a really good white ball prospect for any side. With regards to red ball, he needs to be slightly fuller on the length. If he could maintain the nip while bowling fuller, then there is no stopping his success. 

I have not seen much of Ambrish. But from whatever I have heard of him, it seems that he is an instinctive batter.  Also being a left hander is an added advantage. He can also clock up till 135 Kph with the ball. In a country where there is no one except Hardik Pandya as fast bowling allrounder, he will reach greater heights if he can do justice to his talent. 

In the red ball campaign there were two brilliant wins where the game was affected due to weather (Bihar and Delhi). Can you tell us about that?

Speaking of the Bihar game, we knew we had the game at the grasp so there wasn’t much panic. In the Delhi game we had 2 sessions to bowl them out and we were already aware that they already collapsed earlier from a similar situation. Hence we stuck to the plans. Pranav gave us the 1^st breakthrough and one end opened up and once Pant got out, we picked up wickets from both ends and closed out the game which eventually helped us in topping the table.

The game against Haryana might have bought many lessons to the team because we were completely outplayed by them. Even with a full-strength side what went wrong in that game? How those lessons helped?

It was an anomaly. To be honest, the wicket was so bad. And to add up we lost the toss and batted at the worst possible conditions. Both the spinners (Hemchudesan and Kishore) coming back from India U19 Tri-series. They were getting into the groove. But in a low scoring affair in a red ball game, it is not conducive or easy to get into rhythm. Therefore, we brushed it aside and moved on from it very quickly.

How good was the spin trio of Hemchudesan, Kishore and Sandeep collectively bagging 91 wickets among themselves? Also the former two missing out on potential WC spots probably due to their batting capabilities. Did you work consciously on that aspect?

Hemchudesan can be a really good allrounder in red ball. He has shown promise by scoring two crucial fifties coming in at tricky situations against Tripura and Delhi, I have insisted him to work on his batting to play consistently for Ranji Trophy or India. Kishore needs to believe on his batting ability and work on it. With regards to his bowling, he needs to work on his overspin a lot more whereas now he is more reliant on side spin. Sandeep is a silent warrior who is accurate with his length and flights the ball deceiving the batters in the air.

Pranav Raghavendra who clocked 147 Kmph at the NCA missed out on the U19 WC due to the back injury unfortunately. How good was having him back in the sideand how he shaped up this season?

It was a surprise for us to have Pranav Raghavendra back because we never expected him to comeback for U19 side. We thought either he would go to India U19 or Ranji Trophy/CK Nayudu Trophy for Tamil Nadu. It was good to have him since he came back from a long injury layoff. He took his time to get into the rhythm as a fast bowler. Having gone through a similar scenario, I could empathise with him. I fully understood what he was going through. Yet he delivered crucial breakthroughs since he is quick which can be a double edged sword. He also bowls with cross seam and not uses seam up. He can go for plenty at times on flat wickets, but he is working on it and will surely get better.

The Quarterfinal game was a see-saw battle with cut-throat competition. Throughout the game can you kindly tell us about the experience. What was your exact feeling when Saurashtra was 59-1 chasing 215?

In the Quarterfinals Saurashtra gave us the run for the money. Batting first, we could’ve easily posted a score above 350 (eventually posted 315). They set unconventional fields and in reply Vansh played brilliantly. At the end of Day 3, I told the boys to make a choice on what should happen tomorrow and each came with their own next morning. At the huddle, everyone spoke about choices they manifested which I feel drove them towards the victory. Despite a good start for Saurashtra chasing 215 on Day 4, I felt we could turn it around. I thought the previous evening that BK Kishore will be the key. Once the ball had started to turn from the centre, he eventually won us the game with 6 wicket haul.

About the Semifinals, can you explain your thoughtss after losing out the lead in 1^st innings and during the  frustrating 9^th wicket from MP. At the end of Day 3. what was the message to the boys from you ahead of the Day 4?

The message was clear on the bus even after the Day 2. It was Virat Kohli’s video on which he says that “ Not every time you need to use your brain. Sometimes you need to use your heart and you will see the magic happening” and further added Sanda Seirom (We have to fight it out) a famous dialogue in Tamil Movie “Vadachennai”.

"We have lost 20 hours of this game but if we play to our potential for the next 4 hours then we will win" was what I told the boys before the chase.

How did you plan the chase? It looked like you were planning to keep the run rate under 6 rpo and planning to go hard in the last session. What was thoughts at tea (211-2) when Kush and Bharath looked like taking us home?

We promoted Bharath to have left-right combination going to tackle the off spinner (Yashbardhan Singh Chauhan). Since we lost two quick wickets,both Kush and Bharath played brilliantly with spread out fields as they were fielding at the boundary line for almost 70 overs. We also insisted to not take it till the last over even if it is the case then plan to keep it under run a ball was the instruction. We got so near. 

Lastly as the dust settles what were the emotions when the team missed to close out the game by a whisker and how disappointed were the boys?

Somewhere in-between, we missed out a boundary. These things happen. But  we were extremely proud of the fight that had been put up by the boys. The way we turned up for the chase is the exact brand of cricket I wanted them to play.

Post that there were some heavy faces and few boys broke down in tears. With emotions floating around at the team meeting, I too shed a few tears seeing these boys, which I hadn’t done even in my U-19 days even when we lost the 2006 U-19 WC to Pakistan.

How supportive were your support staff during the season - Gopinath (Chief Selector),Santosh (Assistant Coach), Viganesh Vason (Fielding Coach), Ragav (Physio), Maanav and Kaleeswaran?

All were very supportive. They were truly the pillars of this campaign and a dream team I could ever ask for.  Since all of us were in a similar age group, we connected quick and well. All had hectic tasks to manage The physio needed to take care of multiple niggles and Pranav. The fielding coach did his job without any limelight. Santosh my partner in crime. I may call the play but he is the one who takes care of the execution. As I said earlier, Gopinath (Chief Selector) took care of the external pressure.

What are the plans with respect to next season especially in white ball since this year’s U-16 has few good ball strikers in Dhanvanth, Shri Dharun and also with Krish and B Sachin we have good batting prospects and also there are some interesting fast bowling prospects in Pooli Chelladurai Raja and Rishi Kannan?

As of now I have no idea. But if given an opportunity at this level or even at a higher level, I would be happy to take up and guide these talents to the next level. I want to help Tamil Nadu cricket scale greater heights. 

Thank You. This campaign was not about trophies alone. It was about character, courage and conviction. The boys proved that mindset not merely skill, defines champions.We wish you the very best and we look forward to Tamil Nadu cricket scaling heights and ensuring high standards. PRAJAI VIEW salutes Yo Mahesh and the Tamil Nadu Under 19 Team. We record our thanks to Sujith for this well curated interview.