The Indian cricket team are on the cusp of winning their fifth ICC Under-19 World Cup, having reached the final for the fourth consecutive time.
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The Indian cricket team continued its dominance in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2022. Under the captaincy of Yash Dhull, India has remained unbeaten in the tournament, notching up big wins against the likes of South Africa, Uganda, Bangladesh, and Australia. The 96-run win over Australia ensured that India had reached the final of the ICC Under-19 World Cup for the fourth consecutive time. In this entire decade from 2012 to 2022, India has reached the finals on five occasions barring 2014. They won the tournament in 2012 and 2018 but they have tasted defeat in the 2016 and 2020 editions of the tournament.
India will now take on England in the final and Yash Dhull has a chance to cement his legacy as one of the best players in India’s youth system. Yash Dhull has already matched Virat Kohli and Unmkut Chand for scoring a century in the Under-19 World Cup as a captain. It remains to be seen whether Yash Dhull becomes one of the best players after the end of this tournament.
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After the end of the Under-19 World Cup, players are traditionally fast-tracked into the Indian national team. In modern times, the Under-19 stars are picked for the IPL in order to prepare themselves for the rigors of international cricket. Over the last three decades, here is a look at India’s captains who made it big after the ICC Under-19 World Cup. The list will also include players who have not made it big.
The first ICC Under-19 World Cup 1988 saw India being captained by Myluahanan Senthilnathan from Tamil Nadu. He was a good domestic player for Tamil Nadu. When he captained the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 1988, India had players like Pravin Amre, Subroto Banerjee, Nayan Mongia and Venkatapathy Raju. India finished only sixth, having notched up wins against England, New Zealand and ICC Associates. Senthilnathan did not play international cricket and he went on to become the chief coach of the MRF Academy in Chennai. In the squad, the likes of Amre, Mongia, Raju and Banerjee had moderate success in international cricket.
The 1998 Under-19 World Cup, held in South Africa, was captained by Mumbai player Amit Pagnis. This squad had some legendary players who would go on to become big. Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Mohammad Kaif were some of the players who represented India with great distinction. As far as Amit Pagnis was concerned, he is best remembered for taming Shane Warne and smashing the Australians all over Mumbai during the 1998 tour by the Aussies. Pagnis became a stalwart in the Mumbai Ranji team, amassing over 5000 runs. India finished second in Pool C, winning against Kenya and Scotland but losing to South Africa.
However, in the Super Eight Stage, India lost to Australia by a big margin and despite beating eventual winners England and Pakistan, they failed to reach the final. Pagnis never played international cricket, while Sehwag and Harbhajan became legendary names. There were also Laxmi Shukla and Reetinder Singh Sodhi who represented India but they did not achieve that much success.
It was the first time that India tasted success in the ICC Under-19 World Cup and it was all thanks to Mohammad Kaif. Having participated in the 1998 Under-19 World Cup, Kaif was now India’s best youth player at the start of the 21st century. The tournament was played in Sri Lanka and India dominated the league stages, winning against Bangladesh and New Zealand. The match against the Netherlands was washed out.
In the Super League playoffs, India dominated against Sri Lanka, England and Nepal to storm into the semifinals. India thrashed Australia by a mammoth margin of 170 runs and in the final, they defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets. The tournament saw the emergence of Yuvraj Singh, India’s ultimate match-winner. Yuvraj would be part of India’s 2007 World T20 and 2011 ICC World Cup triumph as well. Venugopal Rao and Ajay Ratra would play international cricket for India while Shalabh Srivastava became an IPL player.
India was led by Parthiv Patel and they dominated the group stages, beating South Africa and Canada but losing to Bangladesh. The tournament, held in New Zealand, saw Australia dominate. In the Super League, India thrashed West Indies and Sri Lanka but lost to Pakistan. During the semifinal, India was hammered by an inspired South Africa team. Parthiv Patel would have a good career with India across all formats. This World Cup saw the emergence of Irfan Pathan, Stuart Binny, and Suresh Raina. Raina and Irfan, in particular, played crucial roles in India’s emergence as a world-beater in the first decade of the 21st century.
The tournament, which was held in Bangladesh, saw India being captained by Ambati Rayudu. India won all three league games and topped their group which included New Zealand and Bangladesh. In the Super League, India once again dominated by beating West Indies and Sri Lanka. Their only loss came against South Africa by three runs. But, India stumbled against Pakistan in the semi-final and they went on to win their first World Cup. In this tournament, Shikhar Dhawan held the record for the most runs in a single edition with 505 runs. Rayudu would play a big role in the IPL for Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. His India stint would be mixed, having been controversially dropped before the 2019 ICC World Cup.
The tournament, held in Sri Lanka, saw some future India stars dominate. Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma, and Shahbaz Nadeem made up an impressive line-up. India once again reached the knockout stages with a dominant display. In the final, they had reduced Pakistan to 109. But, Pakistan’s bowlers produced a magical spell of bowling that saw them bundle India out for 87. It was a thrilling, low-scoring contest that saw Pakistan win the title back-to-back. Despite the loss, India had found legends in Rohit Sharma, Pujara, Ishant, and Jadeja. Nadeem had good success in the IPL while Chawla was part of the 2011 ICC World Cup. For Shukla, he never managed to play for India. He scored only two centuries in his First-Class career and played for Punjab Kings in the IPL. But, he never made it to the big league.
This tournament gave the cricket world legends that would dominate the sport. Prime among them was Virat Kohli. His attacking batting and aggressive captaincy laid the foundation for greatness. Kohli’s captaincy saw India win the Under-19 World Cup after eight years. The tournament also had Ravindra Jadeja, Siddarth Kaul emerge along with Kohli. In the international arena, the likes of Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Darren Powell, Tim Southee, Corey Anderson, and Trent Boult all emerged from this tournament in Malaysia. Kohli is now the greatest player in the modern era, with 70 centuries and an average of 50 in all three formats.
India was led by Ashok Menaria and they had future stars like KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and Jaydev Unadkat in the team. India finished in the league stage as England dominated in New Zealand. In India’s loss to England, a certain Ben Stokes punished them. India lost to Pakistan in the quarterfinal but they defeated England to finish in 5th. KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are currently some of the best players in the Indian team. Ashok Menaria never managed to break into the Indian team. Unadkat had limited success in India colors but he was one of the most expensive buys in the IPL. He also finished as the leading wicket-taker in one edition of IPL.
Perhaps, the only batch of Under-19 cricketers that never managed to break into the international fold. Unmukt Chand was touted as the next big thing after his century in the final against Australia gave India a memorable win. He had written a book and had featured in an ad with Kohli and MS Dhoni. But, he never got a chance in the Indian set-up. All the hype from the 2012 Under-19 World Cup could not materialise into something big. In the end, Unmkut Chand became disillusioned and moved to the USA for a better cricket opportunity. In the entire group, only Sandeep Sharma managed to break it into the IPL and Indian cricket team.
The tournament was being played in the UAE. Sanju Samson dazzled the world with his aggressive batting. India also had the guile of Kuldeep Yadav who take a hat-trick against Scotland. But, India finished the tournament fifth. Kuldeep Yadav became the only Indian bowler to take five wickets in all three formats. Sanju Samson, on the other hand, could not hold on to a place in the Indian cricket team. Although he excelled in the IPL, Samson’s inconsistency did him no favors.
India’s squad consisted of some legendary names. Rishabh Pant became one of the best players to emerge from the team as he became the understudy to MS Dhoni. There was Avesh Khan, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, and Khaleel Ahmed who all represented India after the end of this tournament. Ishan Kishan, though, had a mixed bag. He made it big with the Mumbai Indians team but came to the side much after Rishabh Pant. Ishan Kishan is one of the bright young guns in Indian cricket.
It was dominance from India as they clinched the Under-19 World Cup in 2018 for the fourth time under the captaincy of Prithvi Shaw. They did not lose a single match and were dominant in all aspects. Shaw went on to score a century on debut while Shubman Gill became one of the pillars of India’s top order. The likes of Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti dazzled in the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders.
India was touted as the favorites to win the ICC Under-19 World Cup. But, in a hostile final against Bangladesh in Benoni, India was found wanting and they lost a nerve-wracking and ill-tempered final by three wickets. Ravi Bishnoi, Kartik Tyagi emerged as one of the stars and they went for big bucks in the IPL. Yashasvi Jaiswal, one of the stars with the bat, went to Rajasthan Royals in the IPL where he struggled. Priyam Garg is currently in the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad. None of the players have broken into the Indian team.
It will be interesting to see how Yash Dhull shapes up. Does he become like Virat Kohli, Mohammad Kaif, Prithvi Shaw and become one of the biggest names in Indian cricket? Or does he follow the Unmukt Chand or Ashok Menaria way? That will be known on February 5, 2022 in Antigua against England.
