India's 2006 under-19 World Cup squad - Where are they now?
India were on a rampage in the 2006 under-19 World Cup as they thrashed each and every team in the tournament before playing Pakistan in the finals. Led by Ravikant Shukla, India went into the finals against Sarfaraz Ahmed's Pakistan in Colombo and were the favourites to win the title.
The lived up to the favourites’ tag by dismissing Pakistan for just 109, thanks to splendid spells from Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja. Chasing 110 to win, India were in for a shocker as they were reduced for 23/7 in the eighth over of the game.
Pinal Shah and Piyush Chawla got things back on track before the Pakistani bowlers cleaned up the Indian line-up for just 71 in less than 19 overs and were crowned as the champions following the 38-run win over their arch-rivals India.
Unlike the other squads, the Indian squad for this World Cup had only 14 members with former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad as their coach. Few members of that Indian team went on to represent India on the International stage while some failed to make it big. Let us take a look at what the members of the 2006 squad are doing at the moment.
Extra cover: 2008 U-19 World Cup-winning Indian team: Where are they now?
Rohit Sharma
| Matches/Inns | Runs | Average | Highest | 50+ scores |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/6 | 205 | 41 | 78 | 3 |
| Matches/Inns | Wickets | Average | Best | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/3 | 4 | 8.75 | 2/15 | 2.5 |
Rohit Sharma is the most successful of the bunch that represented India in the 2006 under-19 World Cup as he is one of India’s most reliable batsmen in the limited-over formats. Rohit scored 205 runs in 6 innings at an average of 41 in the 2006 World Cup and made his debut for India in 2007 and was a member of India’s 2007 World T20 winning team as well.
A decade later, he is the only batsman to have two double centuries in ODI cricket and is one of the three Indian batsmen to have a century in all the three formats. Though he is a mainstay in the Indian ODI and T20I, the same cannot be said of his stature in Test cricket as he is trying to seal his place in the longer formats.
He is also the captain of the Mumbai Indians side in the IPL and has won the tournament twice (twice with Mumbai and once with Deccan Chargers).
Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara was a run machine even in his under-19 days. The Saurashtra batsman was the best batsman in the 2006 under-19 World Cup as he scored 349 runs in 6 innings at an average of 117 and is the only Indian to score a century in the tournament.
He continued to score a lot of runs in the domestic circuit and made his Test debut for India in 2010. Ever since making his debut, he has been one of India’s best batsmen in the longer formats as he has scored over 3000 runs with an average of over 50. He has represented India in 44 Tests and 5 ODIs.
He has also represented Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab in the IPL and also played county cricket for Derbyshire and Yorkshire to get used to the conditions in England.
| Matches/Inns | Runs | Average | Highest | 50+ scores |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/6 | 349 | 116.33 | 129* | 3 |