The ICC Men’s U-19 World Cup is one of the biggest breeding grounds of talent in the world of cricket, with plenty of stars ranging from Virat Kohli to Babar Azam to Kagiso Rabada making their name in this competition. The 2022 U-19 World Cup was no different, with numerous promising youngsters displaying their talents on the world stage.
While India dominated the tournament to win their record-extending fifth U-19 World Cup, there were also plenty of outstanding individual performances across all teams. Here are the five outstanding young talents to emerge from the 2022 U-19 World Cup.
5. Raj Angad Bawa
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Team India were a cut above the rest at the U-19 World Cup in the West Indies, and one of the architects of their record-extending fifth title was all-rounder Raj Bawa. Bawa began the tournament with a phenomenal four-wicket haul against the West Indies and finished with the best figures in a final in the history of the U-19 World Cup, picking up five for 31 to help India restrict England to just 189. With the bat, Bawa was equally impressive, breaking Shikhar Dhawan’s record to register the highest individual score by an Indian at the U-19 World Cup with his unbeaten 162 against Uganda in the group stage.
4. Haseebullah Khan
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Pakistan opener Haseebullah Khan enjoyed a stellar campaign with the bat at the top of the order, finishing as the second-highest run-getter in the tournament. The left-hander creamed 380 runs in six matches – including two centuries and one fifty – and finished with an impressive average of 76 and a strike rate of 80.
3. Dunith Wellalage
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Sri Lankan captain Dunith Wellalage had an outstanding tournament with both bat and ball and became just the second player in U-19 World Cup history to finish with over 250 runs and 15 wickets. Wellalage picked up two five-wicket hauls in the group stages against Scotland and Australia and finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 16 scalps in six matches. More impressively, the captain also finished as Sri Lanka’s highest run-getter, scoring 264 runs in the tournament, including a phenomenal match-winning century against South Africa.
2. Yash Dhull
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Despite missing two group stage matches due to a positive Covid-19 test, Yash Dhull was mightily impressive throughout the tournament as he followed in the footsteps of Mohammed Kaif, Virat Kohli, Unmukt Chand and Prithvi Shaw to lead India to victory in the U-19 World Cup. Dhull amassed 229 runs in four matches at an average of 76 and led from the front in the crunch semi-final against Australia, scoring a glorious century and adding 204 runs alongside Shaik Rasheed to take India into the final.
1. Dewald Brevis
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Dewald Brevis was head and shoulders above the rest of the field at the ICC U-19 World Cup, and the South African batter nicknamed ‘Baby AB’ already looks ready to make the step up to international cricket. Brevis lit up the ICC U-19 World Cup with his dazzling stroke-making, creaming three 50s and two 100s for South Africa. The 18-year-old eventually finished with 506 runs in six matches, breaking the record set by Shikhar Dhawan in 2004 for the most runs by a batter in a single edition of the tournament.
[Featured Image Credit: ANI]
Shivaan Shah