2020 U-19 World Cup: Five potential future stars to watch out for
The 2020 U-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa will get underway in just a few days' time with a lot of potential future superstars taking part in this tournament which is regarded as the pinnacle for age-group cricketers.
This biennial tournament has propped up supremely talented young cricketers and you can be sure that this year will also see a lot of relatively unknown yet prodigious cricketers trying to make a name for themselves. From Virat Kohli to Kagiso Rabada to Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw, a successful U-19 Cricket World Cup has seen several budding stars catapult themselves to overnight stars.
As usual, India will go in as the favourites with a lot of their players already bagging IPL contracts while Bangladesh will also be strong contenders to lift the title. Recently, Sri Lanka lifted the Tri-series Trophy which featured hosts West Indies and England while Zimbabwe also gave a good account of themselves by beating South Africa and New Zealand in the recent Quadrangular series. This shows the kind of talent that is available a
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While many of the avid cricket fans around the world would be scrambling to know a bit more about the players who would be featuring in the upcoming World Cup, we have decided to make it a little easier for everyone by listing out the top 5 cricketers to watch out for.
#5 Wesley Madhevere
A slightly surprising pick but Wesley Madhevere's recent performances warrant a spot for him in this list. Interestingly, this is Madhevere's third appearance in a U-19 World Cup.
The all-rounder was in sparkling form during the recent Quadrangular series in South Africa with him finishing as the fifth-highest scorer in the tournament by notching up 150 runs in four matches. The best thing about Madhevere's batting is that he always gets his team off to rapid starts with a good level of consistency. The youngster is especially lethal against the pacers during the powerplay overs.
If this isn't enough, Madhevere is also a regular bowler for Zimbabwe with his disciplined off-spin acting as the glue amongst a bowling attack that could tend to be expensive. This frugal nature of Madhevere's bowling is reflected in the fact that his seven wickets came at an economy rate of 4.23.
Given all these attributes, it surely wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Zimbabwe's hopes of pulling off some upsets in the World Cup rests heavily on their 'experienced' campaigner's shoulders.