ICC U-19 World Cup is a great platform for emerging cricket talents. The marquee event acts as a stepping stone for young players to ascend to the international stage. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and explore the journeys of some iconic Indian players who once donned the Under19 jersey together to flourish in the senior level later.
Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Mohammed Kaif played the U19 World Cup in 1998. They went on to become stalwarts of Indian cricket.
India witnessed the brilliance of all-rounder Yuvraj Singh in the U19 World Cup 2000. Mohammad Kaif was leading the Indian team then. Both the cricketers were very successful in the senior level.
In 2002, the U19 World Cup saw the emergence of aggressive wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel and pace bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan.
Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, RP Singh and Robin Uthappa were the products of 2004 U19 World Cup.
Despite a loss in the U19 World Cup final to Pakistan in 2006, India witnessed the rise of cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, and Piyush Chawla.
Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, India clinched the U19 World Cup in 2008. Kohli went on to rule Indian cricket after that.
KL Rahul emerged from 2010 U19 World Cup.
Talents like Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, Sarfaraz Khan were introduced in 2014 U19 World Cup.
Similarly, the 2016 U19 World Cup witnessed the rise of star batsmen Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan.
Exciting talents like Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw emerged from U-19 World Cup 2018.