Success in the Under 19 Cricket World Cup does not guarantee the success of a player in international cricket.
In India, every youngster wants to become a star cricketer. Everyone wants to get a place in the Indian cricket team. Many youngsters start preparing to get a place in the national team very early and play cricket at different levels. Every youngster is very focused and disciplined when they play at small levels.
It has been seen in the past that discipline and focus of most players decreased with increase in the level of cricket.
Every youngster wants to become next Sachin or Dhoni but very few get success. In the past 20 years, India has seen many young cricketers who lost their focus after the Under 19 World Cup.
Let’s have a look at those cricketers whose career vanished after the great success in Under 19 level for India
#1. 2000 U-19 World Cup
From the team of 2000 U-19 World Cup, Reetinder Sodhi and Ajay Ratra were the two cricketers who performed really good before coming into team India. India won the final of 2000 U-19 World Cup with the help of Sodhi’s superb knock but; in the national team, he did not perform well. Similarly, Ajay Ratra was all set to become the permanent wicket-keeper of team India but has played only 6 Tests and 12 ODIs for India.
#2. 2008 U-19 World Cup
India won the 2000 U-19 World Cup under Virat Kohli. India got many good players from this World Cup squad like – Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja but some cricketers like – Abhinav Mukund and Saurabh Tiwary failed to achieve the success at International level after the success in first-class cricket.
#3. 2012 U-19 World Cup
India won this World Cup under the brilliant leadership by Unmukt Chand. After this World Cup, everyone starts telling that India get another Virat Kohli but; suddenly Chand’s career went into a bin. He performed better than anyone else in that World Cup and became a star but; no one knows what Unmukt Chand is doing right now. Similarly, his teammates Akshdeep Nath, Prashant Chopra and Baba Aparajith also failed to get success at International level.
#4. 2014 U-19 World Cup
In this U-19 World Cup, cricketers like – Avesh Khan, Ankush Bains, Deepak Hooda and Sarfaraz Khan got a great success for India but suddenly their career vanished. Deepak Hooda ad Sarafaraz Khan produced 2-3 good performances in IPL but failed to maintain the consistency in domestic cricket.
#5. 2016 U-19 World Cup
India got some good players from this World Cup like – Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar but players like – Armaan Jaffer, Mayank Dagar did not perform well in the domestic circuit after seeing the glory very early. Currently, both Jaffer and Dagar struggling in domestic cricket and it is very difficult for them to get a place in the national team.
India won the U-19 World Cup in 2018, under the captaincy of Prithvi Shaw. India got many talented players like – Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Riyan Parag, etc. It is very important for all of them to play cricket with discipline and good focus because the nation had seen many talented cricketers who had vanished their career after getting success in the U-19 World Cup.
