5 ICC U-19 World Cup captains who went on to become star players 

Hashim Amla led the South African squad in U-19 World Cup in 2002.
Hashim Amla led the South African squad in U-19 World Cup in 2002.

Youth cricket is a hotbed of talent. Following youth cricket closely is likely to give fans an insight into the future prospects of world cricket. Although the viewership of youth cricket is limited, tournaments like the U-19 World Cup have helped greatly in increasing it. The U-19 World Cup is organized by the ICC after every two years. Players who feature in it are perhaps the best young talents of their countries. Despite being touted as future stars, many of those players never make it big while some of them do deliver upon the expectations.

A special category of promising players includes the captains of the U-19 World Cup teams. They are the most prominent figures of their teams, and perhaps the most exciting future prospects for the cricket fraternity.

Here, we will gaze through five such U-19 World Cup captains who were not fazed by expectations. Instead, they lived up to them and became star senior cricketers.


Hashim Amla

Hashim Amla captained the South African squad in the 2002 U-19 World Cup. A promising youngster then, Amla is now a name to reckon with in all three formats of the game and is well ahead on his way to becoming one of the best ever to have donned the South African jersey. Barring fluctuations in his form in the past couple of years, Amla, who led the U-19 squad to the World Cup final, has invariably been consistent. He is one of the mainstays of South African batting lineup in all three formats.

By virtue of his consistency in the domestic circuit, Amla proved himself worthy of a selection in the senior cricket team. His temperament combined with a classical approach to batting apparently meant that he was suitable only for Test matches. But he turned out to be an exciting limited-overs player as well. Amla averages 50 and 48 in ODIs and Tests respectively. Even in T20s, he averages over 30, and scores at a brisk rate of 132 runs per 100 balls. For South Africa to win the World Cup next year, Amla has to be at his very best.

Virat Kohli

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Virat Kohli was the skipper of the U-19 side that won the World Cup in 2008.

The audacity with which Virat Kohli has made his runs across formats in the past few years has established him as a modern-day great. His wristy shots combined with nifty footwork make him an exquisite striker of the cricket ball. He is indeed a talented batsman but, it is his proclivity to learn and improve himself that separates him from the rest.

Now a senior in the Indian cricket team he was once the skipper of India's U-19 World Cup squad. That was in the year 2008. Virat's leadership was instrumental in India's successful World Cup campaign. One of his memorable knocks in the tournament came in a group game against West Indies where he slammed 100 off just 74 deliveries. The World Cup title made him famous, and later that year he played his debut match for the senior team. Rest, as they say, is history.

Kane Williamson

Kane led New Zealand in 2008 ICC U-19 World Cup.
Kane led New Zealand in the 2008 ICC U-19 World Cup.

Declared a prodigy even before he was made the captain of the U-19 squad in 2008 World Cup, Kane Williamson proved himself worthy of the tag. His team reached semi-finals, where Indian squad led by Virat Kohli defeated them in a rain-curtailed contest. Although he couldn't impress much with the bat in the U-19 World Cup, the cricketing world did take note of his temperament. Two years later, Williamson debuted against India in a tri-series match. He has been a regular feature of the Kiwi side ever since.

Williamson is counted among the best batsmen of the current lot which also includes the likes of Kohli and Smith, who also played in the 2008 U-19 World Cup. As was the case with Amla, his batting style made him fit for Tests. People remained doubtful of his limited-overs cricket. But again, like Amla, he proved people wrong. His recent exploits in limited-overs cricket have been a delight to behold and augurs well for the team's World Cup campaign next year.

Ross Taylor

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Ross Taylor led the Kiwi side in the 2002 U-19 World Cup.

Ross Taylor has been a regular feature of New Zealand's Test and ODI squads for the past few years. Despite possessing a wide range of shots he has never been counted among the best. Nevertheless, he is an impact player. Averaging over 45 in both Tests and ODIs, Taylor has been the backbone of New Zealand's middle-order, and often their last ray of hope in odd situations.

Now a force to reckon with, he was once the skipper of his country's U-19 side that played in the 2002 World Cup. His team failed to qualify for the semi-finals, and as far as Taylor himself is concerned, it was a forgettable tournament for him as he managed to notch up a fifty-plus score only once. Even then, thanks to his domestic form, there was not even an iota of doubt that he would make it to the senior cricket team. Four years after the U-19 World Cup he played his first ODI and after a few initial hiccups, he quickly established himself in the team.

Brian Lara

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Lara led the Caribbean side in the inaugural U-19 World Cup in 1988.

Brian Lara is one of the best examples of a young talent making it big at the highest level. Undoubtedly one of the best batsmen of all time, Lara was the skipper of West Indies in the 1988 U-19 World Cup (named Youth World Cup then). His team failed to get past Pakistan in the semi-final. The skipper could not impress much with the bat in the tournament. Nevertheless, his free-flowing shots and the habit of notching up big scores in domestic cricket ensured him a national call-up.

Lara made his ODI and Test debuts two years after the Youth World Cup. It did not take him long to prove that he was different from the rest. It was in 1994 that he made 375 in a Test match against England, and surpassed Gary Sobbers's record of 365 as the highest Test score by an individual. But his most memorable knock remains 400* that he scored, coincidentally against the same opposition and at the same venue. That remains to date the highest score by an individual in Tests. In a career spanning seventeen years, Lara accumulated over 22000 runs.

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Edited by Amar Anand