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ICC T20 World Cup 2016: The journey of the class of 2008

The world stood up and appluaded when Virat Kohli took India home on Saturday. It was a tricky target to chase on a dicey pitch, often interrupted by unnecessary dismissals. But the modern master stood strong at one end. Unflappable, unbeatable, and taking his team closer to yet another World Cup win over Pakistan.But behind the success story of every genius, there is a starting point. For Kohli, the starting point was him leading India to the U-19 World Cup win in Malaysia, eight years ago.But was Malaysia a starting point for Kohli alone? Sportskeeda takes a look at some of the players who played in the 2008 U-19 World Cup, and traces their journeys to the ICC World T20 2016 – where they are competing with and against each other, once again. 

#1 Australia

James Faulkner during the U-19 World Cup in 2008

Players of the 2008 U-19 World Cup squad playing in the ongoing World T20: Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner and Steve Smith

Steve Smith is perhaps the biggest name to come out of Australia’s U-19 squad, and his rise in the last eight years from a leg-spinner who batted at No. 8 to one of the world’s best batsmen and the Australian captain has been unbelievable. Despite being his team’s third highest run-getter, Smith had a sombre U-19 World Cup and failed to flatter due to his technical deficiencies.

While his bowling continued to be on par with some of the best (he picked up 11 wickets at 14.81 during the ICC World T20 2010), he disappeared into the sidelines and got his act together.

Smith returned a couple of years later with a stronger technique, and came across as a player who was now adept at playing both spin and pace, and had a wonderfully array of shots in his arsenal. Smith’s first Test hundred came against England in 2013, and he kept going upwards from there on.

His greatest patch however, came during the home series against India in 2014/15 where he plummeted runs against the Indian attack, breaking a bunch of batting records in the process. He took over as Australia’s captain across formats after the retirement of Michael Clarke. 

Unlike Smith, who had a quicker entry into the senior side, James Faulkner had to wait for four years to get his international debut. Faulkner’s role in the side was that of an all-rounder who could bowl a variety of deliveries with his left-arm medium pace, and one who could also provide a lot of fire-power batting lower down.

In no time Faulkner gained notoriety as one of the most difficult batsmen to bowl to, a tag compounded by his batting heroics against India in 2013 – a series where he followed up a 29-ball 64 with a century scored off 57 balls. 

While Faulkner’s consistent performances over the years have made him a mainstay in Australia’s limited overs setup, the same can’t be said about Josh Hazlewood, who often finds himself at the wrong side of selection calls. A fast-bowler on the lines of Glenn McGrath, Hazlewood burst into the scene as a 19-year old, making his one-day international debut against England in 2010, a little more than two years after his U-19 World Cup appearance.

While Hazlewood had to wait until 2013 to add to his one-day tally, and to make his T20 debut – his true calling came in the form of Test matches. Hazlewood made his Test debut in 2014, but showed his true brilliance in 2015 when he picked up 51 wickets in the calendar year. 

Sadly enough, Hazlewood has played just 5 T20Is in three years, and got overlooked for the game against New Zealand at Dharamsala on Friday, despite picking up a hat-trick agains tthe West Indies in one of the warm up games. 

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