Kolkata: When India takes on England in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2022 on Saturday (February 5) at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, they will be aiming for their fifth crown. India are the most successful team in the Under-19 World Cup, having won it four times and reaching four straight finals including the one in 2022. Besides, India had also finished as runners-up twice in the tournament.
So, before today’s final match, let’s take a look at India’s winning saga.
1. YEAR- 2000
Under the captaincy of Mohammad Kaif, India won its first Under-19 World Cup in 2000. In the final, they defeated Sri Lanka under-19 by 6 wickets in Colombo. Since then, Yuvraj Singh came into the limelight of the sports arena.
Squad: Mohammad Kaif (Captain), Yuvraj Singh, Anup Dawe, Mihir Diwakar, Niraj Patel, Venugopal Rao, Ajay Ratra, Ravneet Ricky, Manish Sharma, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, Reetinder Sodhi, Shalabh Srivastava, Mrityunjay Tripathi, Arjun Yadav.
2. YEAR-2006
Team India, which included Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, and Piyush Chawla, was back in the final at the same site where they had defeated Sri Lanka in 2000, but this time they were up against their arch enemy and defending champion, Pakistan. Anwar Ali wreaked havoc, picking 5 for 35 while Akhtar Ayub picked three as India were decimated for just 71, inside 18.5 overs as Pakistan retained the trophy.
Squad: Ravikant Shukla (c), Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara,
Piyush Chawla, Saurabh Bandekar, Pranabesh Paul(wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Abu Nechim, Monish Parmar, Pinal Shah, Gaurav Dhiman, Mayank Tehlan, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Ishant Sharma,
3. YEAR- 2008
In 2008, India won the Under-19 World Cup for the second time, with Virat Kohli emerging as the game’s biggest star. Manish Pandey and Ravindra Jadeja were also members of the team. In the final, India defeated South Africa Under-19 using the DLS technique.
Squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Ajitesh Argal, Napoleon Einstein, Shreevats Goswami, Perry Goyal, Iqbal Abdulla, Siddharth Kaul, Taruwar Kohli, Abhinav Mukund, Manish Pandey, Pradeep Sangwan, D Siva Kumar, Tanmay Srivastav, Saurabh Tiwary.
4. YEAR- 2012
India won their third championship four years later in Townsville, Australia, when they defeated Australia Under-19. In that final, Unmukt Chand scored a century while Hanuma Vihari was the tournament’s main attraction.
Squad: Unmukt Chand (captain), Akshdeep Nath (vice-captain), Baba Aparajith, Prashant Chopra, Sandipan Das, Harmeet Singh, Akhil Herwadkar, Rush Kalaria, Vikas Mishra, Kamal Passi, Smit Patel, Ravi Kant Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Hanuma Vihari, Vijay Zol.
5. YEAR- 2016
The Boys in Blue reached the final in 2016 under the captaincy of Ishan Kishan but lost to the West Indies.
Squad: Ishan Kishan (captain), Khaleel Ahmed, Anmolpreet Singh, Armaan Jaffer, Avesh Khan, Rahul Batham, Ricky Bhui, Mayank Dagar, Sarfaraz Khan, Amandeep Khare, Mahipal Lomror, Shubham Mavi, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Zeeshan Ansari.
6. YEAR- 2018
Under the leadership of Prithvi Shaw, India defeated Australia Under-19 in the final by 8 wickets in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. It was their fourth championship, and coach Rahul Dravid was in charge.
Squad: Prithvi Shaw (Captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Shri Vamsi, Aryan Juyal, Manjot Kalra, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Riyan Parag, Ishan Porel, Himanshu Rana, Anukul Roy, Abhishek Sharma, Arshdeep Singh, Shiva Singh, Aditya Thakare, Pankaj Yadav.
7. YEAR-2020
The Indian boys performed admirably in 2020 final under the leadership of Priyam Garg, but they were unable to win the championship. Following the final match versus Bangladesh, there was also a brawl.
Squad: Priyam Garg (captain),Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain, wicketkeeper), Atharva Ankolekar, Ravi Bishnoi, Shubhang Hegde, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Divyansh Joshi, Kumar Kushagra, Sushant Mishra, Vidyadhar Patil, Shashwat Rawat, Divyaansh Saxena, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Tilak Varma, Siddhesh Veer.
India has consistently performed well in U19 World Cup events, including the 2022 campaign. A well-paced hundred led India reached its fourth straight U19 World Cup final 2022 with a 96-run victory against Australia on Wednesday, with skipper Yash Dhull ensuring he led from the front.
After electing to bat, Dhull’s 110 runs in as many balls and a game-changing 204-run stand with his deputy Shaik Rasheed (94 off 108 balls) ensured the Indian side had a daunting 290 for five.
The Indian bowlers, meanwhile, did not disappoint, bowling Australia out for 194 runs in 41.5 overs.
As a result, when the Men in Blue take the field again, there could be a chance to script history.
