ICC Under-19 2008 World Cup winning Indian Squad: Where are they now?
The ICC Under-19 Cricket world cup has always been a great platform for the budding cricketers of different countries to showcase their potential in front of the cricketing fraternity. We have seen plenty of players graduating from the under 19 stage to make it to the senior team with their brilliant performances.
However, there is a flipside to the story as well. It is true that players like Chris Gayle (top scorer in 1998), Yuvraj Singh (Player of the Tournament in 2000) and Virat Kohli (captain of the winning team in 2008) emerged from the U-19 World Cup but also one mustn’t forget the fact that a significant number never make the cut to the next level.
Even Rahul Dravid, who coached the Indian Under-19 squad in the 2016 world cup, warned his boys saying, “I played for the U-19s in 1991, and was the only one in my team to go on and play for India.”
So, we thought of looking back at the Indian Under-19 squad which won the ICC Under-19 Cricket world cup in 2008 and introspect the mentioned predicament. 8 years down the line, what are the members of that famous squad doing now?
Let’s have a look at those 15 players who were a part of that squad. What have they done after that triumph? Let’s find out.
#1 Virat Kohli (Captain)
The skipper of that triumphant squad Virat Kohli made rapid strides afterwards and has become one of the best batsmen in the world right now. He made his ODI debut for the senior Indian squad in 2008 against Sri Lanka in Dambulla and since then has never looked back.
He is now the captain of the Indian Test squad and the vice-captain of the limited-overs squads. The 27-year-old Delhi lad has gone from strength and strength and became the current poster boy of Indian cricket. He has scored a plethora of runs across the formats to emerge as one of the top cricketers in the world.
Surely Kohli made it large!
#2 Ravindra Jadeja(Vice-Captain)
The deputy of Virat Kohli in that tournament, spin-bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja made his ODI debut for the senior Indian cricket team in 2009 and went on to become one of the key members of the squad. Though he struggled initially to come to terms with the rigours of International cricket, he gradually improved to become one of the main spin bowling options for his skipper, MS Dhoni.
Jadeja made his Test debut for India in 2012 and his Test record is pretty impressive as well. He has scalped 68 wickets in 16 matches at an impressive average of 23.76.
Another kid who made it big!