ICC U-19 World Cup: 4 Indians who have won the Man of the Series award in the tournament

#3 Cheteshwar Pujara (2006)

Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara burst onto the scene in the U-19 World Cup of 2006. It was in that tournament itself that the Indian fans got a glimpse of Pujara’s ability to focus hard and bat for long periods of time. The right-hander scored 349 runs for India in six games at an average of 116.33 and a strike rate of 82.11, with the highest score of 129.

Pujara, unlike the other stars of the U-19 World Cups, turned out to be a better batsman in the longer format as he came through the ranks. His performance for Saurashtra was outstanding season after season in first-class cricket which earned him an opportunity to play Test cricket for India.

He couldn’t cement his place in the Indian Test team in the first go in 2010. However, after he was brought back again after the retirement of Rahul Dravid and was given the opportunity to bat at No. 3, Pujara never looked back.

The 31-year-old has got more than 5000 Test runs under his belt with 18 Test hundreds so far. He recently scored his 50th hundred in First-class cricket in the Ranji Trophy 2019-20.