From Under-19 World Cups to international stardom (Batch of 2016)
December 19, 2022 | Sabin Koirala 5.4K ReadsThe Youth World Cup, which has a lengthy history, was first held in 1988. 14 U-19 World Cups have taken place to date. Numerous young athletes have shown off their abilities in the competition before, shocking the public on a worldwide stage.
India set a record by winning the World Cup five times, while Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, and the West Indies each took home one victory. The tournament finals have been played by two additional nations, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. India upset England to become the current champion.
Every edition of this event produces new talent, but the 2016 edition has produced the most exceptional batch in recent times. Bangladesh hosted the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. The Under-19 World Cup was staged for the eleventh time, and for the second time in Bangladesh.
Australia confirmed their withdrawal from the event on January 5, 2016, citing security concerns. Defending champions South Africa were eliminated from the competition in the group stage after losses to Bangladesh and Namibia. Nepal and Namibia became the first non-test playing nations to qualify for the Super League/Quarterfinals. In the final, the West Indies defeated India by five wickets to win their maiden title.
Top 5 players who stunned the cricketing world after this U-19 World Cup
1. Rishabh Pant
A boy with a chunky bracelet and necklace took the cricketing world by surprise when he introduced himself by scoring a six to open his account in his first ever test match. Rishabh was India's highest run scorer in the U-19 Cricket World Cup 2016. He scored a total of 267 runs with a strike rate of 104.29.
He made his international debut for India against England at Bengaluru in a T20I game. However, he is someone who loves batting in the longest format of the game. He has been scoring bulk of runs for his side in Test format. He has scored over 2000 test runs with 5 centuries to his name in his short test career.
One of his memorable knocks came against Australia during Border-Gavaskar trophy 2021 in which he scored a match winning 89* at the Gabba. Beside that knock he has saved India from other difficult situations.
He also played a match winning knock of 125* against England at England earlier this year. Still there is a lot of improvement left of him when it comes to playing T20I cricket.
2. Rashid Khan
The next player in this list is none other than the spin wizard from Afghanistan. Rashid was one of the players to have played the 2016 edition of U19 Cricket World Cup. He was highly unnoticed in that tournament as his team were not able to qualify in the next round. Afghanistan only managed to win one game in that tournament. However, Rashid picked up 10 wickets in 6 games he played.
Talking about his career at senior level, he has already established himself as one of the greats in T20 cricket. He is the third highest wicket taker in T20I cricket. Along with that he is also the fastest bowler to pick 100 wickets in ODI cricket.
He plays T20 cricket all over the world and is a player in high demand for every franchise he plays for. Due to his good performance in T20 cricket all over the world, cricket in Afghanistan has flourished. At just 24 years of age, he has already marked himself as the main player for the Afghanistan Cricket Team.
3. Sandeep Lamichhane
Sandeep Lamichhane is another superstar from the 2016 edition of U-19 Cricket World Cup who made a big impact in the international cricket. Sandeep was the second highest wicket taker in that tournament with 14 wickets to his name including a hat-trick against Ireland. It was because of Sandeep’s performance, Nepal made it to the quarter-final of that tournament where Nepal got defeated by the hosts Bangladesh.
Sandeep made his debut in international cricket against Namibia at home. Since making his debut for the national team he has been the main bowler for his team. His performance was evenly noticed by the Delhi franchise and the franchise bought him for the base price of 20 lakhs. He is the first Nepalese player to represent in IPL cricket.
Since making a mark in IPL cricket, there was no looking back for this wrist spinner. He played franchise cricket all over the world and performed brilliantly. He is the second fastest bowler to pick 50 wickets in ODI cricket. He is even the 7th youngest captain to lead his side in an ODI game.
4. Mehidy Hasan Miraz
The fourth player in this list is a fighting tiger from Bangladesh. Miraz was the skipper of the team when Bangladesh played the 2016 edition of U19 Cricket World Cup. He played the tournament as a bowling allrounder but his contribution with the bat was important to his team.
He was second highest run scorer for his team, scoring 242 runs with 4 half centuries including a match winning 55* against Nepal in the quarter-final to book their seat in the semis. He also picked 12 wickets to his name.
He made his international debut in the longest and purest form of the game against England at home. He had a dream debut where he picked up 7 wickets in that game including a brilliant 6-for in the first innings. He is among those rare players to have 1000 runs and 100 wickets in test cricket. He also holds the record for the highest runs scored by a number 8 batter in ODI game.
His best performance came against India in the recently concluded ODI series where he played back-to-back match winning knocks. He shares the bowling partnership with the senior player Shakib Al Hasan in test cricket and is one of the main players on his side.
5. Sam Curran
The final player to make this list is none other than the Man of the tournament of the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2022. Sam had a decent tournament with both bat and ball scoring 201 runs from 5 innings and picked 7 wickets.
Sam has marked himself as one of the best all-rounders in today's generation. He is also in high demand in franchise cricket. He is highly flexible with bat and can bowl at any phase of the game. The left arm variation makes him even more lethal as a bowler.
Sam made his debut international debut against Pakistan at the home of cricket back in 2018. Sam himself comes from a cricket background where his grandfather, father and two other brothers play professional cricket. He may not be a consistent batter but can surely win a game against any team and from any situation.
He has scored over 1000 runs in international cricket with 4 fifties and has over 100 international wickets. He is the first English bowler to pick a 5-for in T20I cricket. He may not have the best of records in international cricket but there are a lot of crickets left in him in the coming days. He surely has the potential to become the best all-rounder in the game.
These were a few players who were part of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016 who took the world by surprise at the international level. There are plenty of other guys as well who are performing brilliantly for their respective nations.
Some of them are Wanindu Hasaranga, Shadab Khan, Charith Asalanka, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Shimron Hetmyer, Alzari Joseph and many more. Without any doubt this batch of U19 World Cup was the best and has been performing consistently at the international level.
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