Under-19 World Cup

Cricket World Cups bring a lot of exuberance and joyfulness among people. They are like a festive season, when whole country cheers for their national team in unison. They bring out the best out of each player as they fight with everything at stake, only to lift the trophy. Not only that, it is one of the major reasons why athletes start playing a sport. Greats like Sachin Tendulkar too claim that his biggest dream was to lift the World Cup.  

Just like the senior teams have their World Cup in every four years, the junior team too gets a platform to showcase their talent and to make their country proud at the international stage. The Under 19 World Cup is organized by ICC every two years and 16 teams participate from countries across the globe. This 50 over format  tournament is conducted in round robin and knock out method, hence every participating nation gets a fair chance. 

It was held in 1988 for the first time in Australia and then in 1998. Since then 15 editions have held. The first edition was won by Australia and the last edition, that is in 2024, was also won by them only. India have lifted the cup most number of times- 5, followed by Australia- 4 and Pakistan-2. 

How is the tournament beneficial?

The tournament provided a stage where best budding cricketers from all the countries compete. These young guns are potentially future stars of their respective countries, hence, the platform gives them the right exposure. This tournament is like a litmus test for them, they get an idea where they stand in terms of their skill. Many great cricketers like Virat Kohli, Shubhman Gill have done well at the U19 stage and then they got their call for the national team.  
At the junior level, cricketers get a truckload of experience merely by participating in Under 19 World Cup. They get a glimpse of how cricket is viewed at the senior level and thus, they are better prepared for the hardships at international level.

Now, as the scope of cricket is growing, with franchise cricket coming into play, players are easily being picked by franchises with their performances at Under 19 level. Scouts of these teams closely following such matches and hence pick players. Many players who did well in previous editions were picked in IPL as well. 

How to get selected in India Under 19 team?

The national board- Board of Control for Cricket in India  conducts domestic matches at age group levels each year. Those players who perform well in these matches further get selected in zone teams/ zone camps. Players who keep on performing automatically gets filtered and then they are picked by the board to represent the junior national team. Hence, any young player who is aspiring to play for the country needs to perform consistently so that they get picked for this mega event. 
Inter state matches at Under 16 and Under 19 levels like Vijay Merchant Trophy etc. are basically the platforms where the local players need to perform. So, the first and foremost step is selection at these levels. Once a player shows his/her true potential in these matches, their roadmap to play for the country gets pretty clear. 

Indian team’s performance over the years 

India have won on 5 occasions under captaincy of Mohammad Kaif (2000, Virat Kohli (2008), Unmukt Chand (2012), Prithvi Shaw (2018), Yash Dhull (2022). India could have clinched their 6th title in 2024 as well, but they lost to Australia in the finals by 79 runs, the team was captained by Uday Saharan. 

Facts about Under 19 World Cup

• Eoin Morgan has scored the most runs so far- 606
• Most wickets are taken by Wesley Madhevere from Zimbabwe and Kwena Maphaka from South Africa. They both have taken 28 wickets each.
• Highest innings total is 480/6 (50) which was scored by Australia against Kenya
• Lowest innings total is 22 (22.3) by Scotland against Australia 
• Dewald Brevis has scored maximum runs in a single edition- 506, followed by Shikhar Dhawan- 505
• The Women's Under 19 World Cup was held in 2022 for the first time. India won the first edition, under the captaincy
  

• The 2026 edition will be held in Zimbabwe and Namibia as joint hosts
• India has the win percentage of 77% in the Under 19 World Cup
• The second edition of Women’s World Cup will begin from 18 January, 2025 in Malaysia