Five U19 Players Who Starred For India At The World Cup But Haven't Played For The Senior Team

Team India has been extremely dominant in recent years at the Under-19 World Cup. Recently, India thrashed Pakistan by 10 wickets to enter their third straight U19 World Cup final. Such is the sheer pedigree of India’s U19 players that they have been making the nation proud for many years.

Players like Virat Kohli, Prithi Shaw honed their skills at the U19 level and even led their respective teams to World Cup glory.

All in all, the U19 World Cup is a big platform for young players to stake their claim in the senior team.

However, there are other players as well who despite showing great potential in their young age, failed to break into the Indian national team.

Having said that, today we will discuss about such five Indian players who starred for their respective teams at the U19 World Cup but have since failed to live up to their potential.

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1) Unmukt Chand

Hailing from Delhi, Unmukt Chand was widely considered by many as the next big star to emerge from the Indian capital. He was given the duties of captaining the Indian colts at the U19 World Cup 2012. Chand helped his team win the title that year, and scored a brilliant inning of 111* against Australia in the final.

After such a strong start to his career, big things were expected from the 26-year-old who has since failed to hit the same heights that he did at the U19 World Cup.

After his stunning knock against Australia, Chand was bought by Indian Premier League (IPL) side Delhi Daredevils but he played just 7 matches for them scoring 61 runs in total. Then, Rajasthan Royals (RR) bought him for 65 lakhs in 2014 but his performances rarely matched his price tag.

One of the bright sparks of the 2012 U19 World Cup, Chand has since then struggled to find any sort of consistency.

2) Vijay Zol

Vijay Zol was the vice-captain of the Indian U19 World Cup team in 2012. Prior to that, he had scored a double ton in 2010 in the league stage of Vijay Merchant tournament. He helped India jointly win the Asia Cup alongside Pakistan and was adjudged as the Man of the Match in the final which ended as a tie.

On the back of his scintillating performances for the Indian colts at U19 World Cup 2012, Vijay signed a youth contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

However, things have only gone downhill for him ever since.

In the year 2014, of all the U19 players, he was chosen as skipper for the U19 World Cup 2014 in Dubai. India crashed out of the tournament in quarterfinals, despite Vijay’s 48 run score against England.

He has since failed to fulfil his potential and the-25-year-old currently plays for Maharashtra at the domestic level.

3) Ashok Menaria

Ashok Menaria began his competitive cricketing career with the Rajasthan Under-15s, slowly climbing up the ladder until he was appointed the captain of the Indian U19 World Cup squad in 2010.

Due to his domestic performances such as a 227 run knock in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2006-07, Menaria was selected as the skipper of U19 players at the 2010 U19 World Cup but India were beaten by Pakistan in quarter-finals.

Menaria then worked hard and his domestic performances were rewarded soon as he signed with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2011. Although the 29-year-old represented the royals for just two years before being released in 2013.

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4) Shreevats Goswami

Having started playing cricket since the age of 11, Shreevats was prodigious talent in his age group. After beginning to play domestic cricket for West Bengal’s Under-19 team, he was later selected for the Indian U19 squad in 2008.

In the tri-nation series in South Africa, Goswami played well and was selected for Indian U19 players’ list for the World Cup in 2008. He played well at the big stage, scoring two half-centuries in the tournament.

He played for Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) for the first three seasons of the IPL, was later signed by Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) and was signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad(SRH) in 2018 for 1 crore.

The 30-year-old’s career has been on an up since, but a call-up by India’s senior team never came.

5) Tanmay Srivastava

Fondly known as ‘Toshu’ lovingly by his teammates, Tanmay began his cricketing career in 2006 when he made his domestic debut for Uttar Pradesh. His performances earned him a call-up for the Indian Under-19 squad for the 2008 World Cup in Malaysia.

Tanmay helped India to the title by scoring 262 runs in the tournament and was the highest run-scorer in the whole competition.

In 2008, he was signed by Kings XI Punjab and he stayed with the Mohali franchise until 2010. He then represented now-defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerela and Deccan Chargers in the following seasons.

Although for a player who was highest run-scorer in his age group at the World Cup, Tanmay failed to fulfil his potential and never got the opportunity to play for the Indian senior team.