ICC U-19 World Cup 2018: Top 5 performers from the tournament

The 2018 U19 World Cup came to an end with India defeating Australia in the final by 8 wickets. It was an action-packed tournament spread across 3 weeks, where young guns from 16 countries fought against each other for the ultimate prize in youth cricket.

Some of the finest youth players rose up to challenge and showed glimpses of their talent while some unknown players became household names after putting up some blinding performances in the tournament.

While there were countless players who put in high quality performances throught the tournament there were some players whose performances stood above all of them.

Here are 5 players I think were the 2018 ICC U19 World Cup's best performers:

#5 Faisal Jamkhandi (Canada):

It doesn't get any tougher than playing cricket in Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The gentleman's game is restricted only to the summer months as snow makes it impossible to play during the winters.

Players are forced to either practice indoors or go to other nearby nations for match time. One player, fast bowler Faisal Jamkhandi travelled a bit farther to India for match practice. Faisal spent 6 months every winter in India, for the last 4 years.

His hard work during the cold winters in India eventually paid off as he finished as the joint highest wicket taker at the 2018 ICC U19 World Cup in New Zealand. Jamkhandi finished his tournament with 14 scalps at an economy rate of 6.76.

The highlight of his tournament was his 5-wicket haul against Bangladesh and a 3-wicket performance against the English. His performances were instrumental in Canada winning 3 matches in the tournament.

#4 Alick Athanaze (West Indies):

Alick Athanaze: Brian Lara 2.0

Defending champions from the 2016 ICC U19 World Cup, West Indies came into the tournament as strong contenders for the title but could only muster a performance good enough for 10th place.

While the team could not perform well as a whole unit, there was one player who kept the West Indian flag flying high and that player was Alick Athanaze, a left-handed middle order batsman who finished as the tournament's highest run-scorer.

Athanaze started his tournament in a relatively quiet fashion, with a score of 26 against the hosts New Zealand, but in the next two matches he put his talent on full display with innings of 76 and 116 not out against South Africa and Kenya respectively.

As the West Indies team had failed to qualify for the quarterfinals they were moved to the plate division where they had fight with other teams who too had failed to qualify for the knockout round to determine their final placement.

In his quarter final against Ireland, Athanaze got out cheaply for a score of 3 but he instantly made up for his disappointing performance with an all round effort against Canada in the semi-final where he scored 87 runs and bagged 2 wickets. Against Sri Lanka he scored an unbeaten knock of 110, albeit in a losing cause.

Overall, Athanaze finished his tournament with 418 runs at an average of 104.5 with 2 centuries and 2 fifties.

#3 Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand):

Rachin Ravindra: Dan Vettori's successor?

The son of a former club cricketer, Rachin Ravindra always had cricket in his veins but it was up to him as to how he would utilise his talent and uptil now it seems that he is one destined for a bright future.

Playing in his second ICC U19 World Cup after being a part of the New Zealand squad in the 2016 edition, Rachin wanted a solid showing in his home country. He started off on a strong note in the opening encounter of the World Cup with figures of 3 for 30 against the West Indies.

In his next two matches, he showed why he is considered one of the best all-rounders in the U19 circuit. Firstly, he scored a crafty 117 alongside figures of 2 for 33 against Kenya then he followed it up a masterful 76 and figures of 4 for 32 against the Proteas.

Rachin amassed 233 runs at an average of 38.83 and scalped 13 wickets at an economy rate of 5.3 in total to cap off a successful tournament for him.

#2 Qais Ahmed (Afghanistan):

Afghanistan cricket has been on the rise for the past few years and their progress was clearly visible at the 2018 ICC U19 World Cup, where they beat the likes of South Africa and England to finish the tournament in 4th.

Every player in the Afghani squad played their part in their team's run to the semifinal but there was one player whose performance stood out over all others. That was legbreak bowler Qais Ahmed, who finished the tournament as the joint highest wicket-taker.

Qais started his tournament with a bang, scalping 3 wickets against neighbours Pakistan. In his next two matches he returned with figures of 2 for 37 and 3 for 32 against Sri Lanka and Ireland respectively.

During the quarter-finals Qais spun a web around hosts New Zealand, returning with figures of 4 for 33. In the semifinal, Qais and company faced off against the mighty Aussies where he fought valiantly, bagging 2 wickets for just 35 runs but alas could not take Afghanistan to the finals.

He finished the tournament with 14 wickets at an economy rate of 3.84 in 5 matches.

#1 Shubman Gill (India):

Shubman Gill: India's New 'Yuvi'

Yuvraj Singh, Tatenda Taibu, Shikhar Dhawan are some players who have won the Player of the Tournament award at an ICC U19 World Cup and then have gone on to represent their respective national teams.

Right handed batsman Shubman Gill was the winner of the award in the 2018 edition, where he spearheaded the Indian batting contingent during their championship winning run finishing as the team's highest run-scorer.

He had 50+ scores in 4 of his 5 innings which includes a match winning unbeaten 102 against arch rivals Pakistan in the semi-finals.

In total, he garnered 372 runs at a Bradmanesque average of 124 and a mind boggling strike rate of 112.38.