Not even three months apart, India have gone through another defeat in the final and yet again, it’s the Aussies who have lifted the Trophy. The World Test Championship final, the World Cup 2023 and now the Under-19 World Cup 2024, Australians have managed to outclass the Indian team on the most important day and went on to lift the trophy on all three occasions.
With a dominating performance from the Boys in Blue without losing a match until the final, it was nothing short of a ‘Deja Vu’ moment for the Indian fans as the senior Indian team also lost one game throughout the World Cup 2023, which was the final.
But, for these young guns, it was an end for a new beginning, which will be nothing short of huge dreams and desires.
It was the ninth and the fifth consecutive time that the Indian team managed to reach the finals of the Under 19 World Cup, which makes India the most successful team in the tournament.
Well, the quality of players India have produced over the years has become the sole reason for India’s success even at the senior level. Virat Kohli, Arshdeep Singh, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and a lot more have managed to make it to the senior team with their
performances.
They may have lost the final, but they have everything to win from now on. Just like the past teams, this team too was full of extraordinary performers, whether it was the captain, Uday Saharan, who led from the front, scoring 397 runs in seven games and also became the highest run-scorer of the tournament, or Saumy Pandey and Naman Tiwari, who also played a vital role to take their team to the finals of the
tournament.
Musheer Khan, the brother of Sarfaraz Khan, who recently received his maiden Test call-up, was among the standout performers for the Indian team in the tournament, as he went on to score two centuries in the tournament.
Sachin Dhas is another player, who has caught the eyes of the fans, as he stepped up whenever the team was in need.
With his vital 96-run knock in the semifinal, India managed to make it to the final.
With Raj Limbani’s brilliant bowling performances with the ball, India continues to produce bowlers who can swing the ball both ways and trouble the best of batters. The young speedster showed a lot of promise as he went to pick up 11 wickets in six games.
Coming onto the spinners, Saumy Pandey has turned out to be an impeccable left-arm spinner and is also the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 18 wickets under his belt.
With exemplary performances from different boys throughout the tournament, the team was full of calibre and ability to win games. From here on, they just need to keep on progressing and bless their domestic teams with their amazing performances to make it to the next level.
The recently-concluded Under-19 World Cup 2024 event may have turned into a learning for Uday Saharan and his team. And they may have walked off the field with teary eyes, but the future awaits for them and who knows one of these guys might turn out to be another once in a generational kind
of player for the Indian team. With the U-19 level over for these boys, they are into a much wider aspect of the sport, with a lot of domestic tournaments coming their way and well, of course, the Indian Premier League, which can turn these guys into a star in one night.
