ICC U19 World Cup 2020, Day 8 Round Up – Statistical Highlights

All the three matches to be played on Friday in the ongoing U19 World Cup were affected by rain and only one match was completed with a result. The game between Afghanistan and Canada was abandoned without a toss and the Afghans finished as Group toppers. The game between Pakistan and Bangladesh began as a 37-over match. Bangladesh were reduced to 106/9 in 25 overs before the rain washed out the game. Pakistan, unfortunately, finished second in the group as Bangladesh had better NRR.

The match between India and New Zealand went alright until 21st over of the Indian innings. The match was reduced to 23 overs each after nearly 4-hour long delay. Yashasvi Jaiswal (57*) and Divyaansh Saxena (52*) scored unbeaten fifties as India finished on 115/0. New Zealand players came with an aggressive mindset to chase down the revised target of 192 in 23 overs. They were placed at 83/1 in the 9th over but were bowled out for 147 as the spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Atharva Ankolekar shared seven wickets to help India win their 3rd consecutive match.

All the statistical highlights from the rain-affected matches on the 8th day of the tournament:

1 – India Under-19s became the first team to not lose a wicket while batting first in a completed Youth ODI. The previous fewest wickets a team lost while batting first in a completed Youth ODI was 1 wicket by Zimbabwe against Nepal in the 2002 U19 CWC game.

No such instances have been recorded in Men’s ODI cricket till date but in Women’s ODI cricket, India Women recorded this feat against Ireland Women in the 1999 Milton Keynes ODI. India batted full 50 overs without losing a wicket and posted 258/0. It was marked to be the ODI debut of Mithali Raj.

4 – Ravi Bishnoi became only the 4th Indian player to claim back to back 4-wicket hauls in Under-19s Cricket World Cup. He took four wickets for 5 runs during the last match against Japan. Yuvraj Singh (2000), Kuldeep Yadav (2014) and Anukul Roy (2018) are the other three players with consecutive 4-fers in U19 CWC. Alongside these four players, Abu Nechim is the other Indian to have picked multiple 4-wicket hauls in the U19 CWC.

4/30 – Mohammad Amir Khan took 4/30 against Bangladesh in what was his Youth ODI debut. He is only the 2nd Pakistan player to have claimed a 4-wicket haul while making his Youth ODI debut in U19 CWC. Shakeel Khan recorded figures of 4/26 against ICC Associate Youth Cricketers in 1988 edition.

7 – India defeated New Zealand in all the seven matches they played against them in the U19 CWC. These are the joint 2nd most number of wins for any team against an opponent in U19 CWC. India defeated Sri Lanka in eight out of nine meetings while Australia won seven in a row against West Indies before losing one in this edition.

9 – India Under-19s have won all the nine matches they played in the U19 World Cups since the start of 2018; the joint-longest winning streak in U19 CWC equaling Australia’s 9 wins between 2002 and 2004. Australia won all the 8 matches in the 2002 edition on their way to title victory and won their first game of the 2004 edition.