U-19 World Cup players with prominent international careers
The U-19 World Cup has been a stepping stone to international cricket for many of the players past and present. Ever since it was first played in 1988, the tournament gave us the likes of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag, Hashim Amla, Virat Kohli and Joe Root. Let's look at some of these players who have made it big in the international circuit.
U-19 World Cup
The inaugural edition of ICC U-19 World Cup was staged as the "Youth World Cup" in 1988, in Australia. It took about ten more years for the second edition to be held, in 1998, in South Africa. 10 more U-19 World Cup events have been organized since then, with the latest tournament concluding this February, in New Zealand.
Tournament which produced most international players
2000 U-19 World Cup has so far produced the most international players. 67 players, who took part in it, went on to get international caps. The next best is 2004 U-19 World Cup, with 64 players.
Brian Lara, the legendary West Indies star
Brian Lara is as big a name as possible to come out of U-19 World Cup. The West Indies legend captained his side at the first U-19 WC tournament, in 1988. He went on to make his international debut in 1990. Lara was part of 131 Tests and 299 ODIs during his career, scoring over 10,000 runs in both formats, including 53 international tons.
20,000-plus run scorers from 1988 U-19 WC
The 1988 U19 WC had three players who amassed 20,000-plus international runs each- Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq, and Jayasuriya.
Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sanath Jayasuriya
Apart from Lara, the 1988 U19 WC also produced cricketing greats like Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sanath Jayasuriya. While Jayasuriya debuted for Sri Lankan senior side the next year in 1989, Inzamam made his Pakistan debut in 1991. Inzamam became the leading ODI run scorer for Pakistan (11,739), Jayasuriya is the second highest ODI run-getter for Sri Lanka (13,430), and the fourth highest of all time.
Virender Sehwag, and Harbhajan Singh
Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh are the top Indian cricketers who came out of the 1998 U-19 WC. Harbhajan made his debut the same year while Sehwag debuted in 1999. Harbhajan is the second highest wicket getter across all formats for India (711). Sehwag, on the other hand, with his destructive batting is only among four batsmen to have scored two triple Test tons.
Yuvraj Singh, Alastair Cook
2000 U-19 WC gave India one of the most dynamic batsmen, Yuvraj Singh, who was a crucial part of India's World Cup winning campaigns in 2007 World T20 and the 2011 WC. One of the top rated Test batsmen, Alastair Cook is from the U19 class of 2004. With 12,005 runs, Cook is the all-time sixth highest run-scorer in Tests and highest for England.
Virat Kohli, the best of the current lot
Virat Kohli was the skipper, who led the 2008 U-19 side to World Cup victory. The Indian captain made his senior debut in 2008 and has over 14,000 international runs already which includes 55 centuries. Having achieved many cricketing milestones in a short span, Kohli is well and truly on his way to rewrite most of the existing batting records.
The other U19 cricketers who are now a household name
Apart from the ones included, the many other U-19 talent whom we today rate among the best include Chris Gayle, Michael Clarke, Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, David Warner, Shakib Al Hasan, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root.
