Stats: Longest winning streaks in a country for India Under-19s

India’s domination at the Under-19s level is visible if we look at their trophy cabinet and their win percentage against the top sides. They are the most successful team in the U19 World Cup having won four titles. In seven U19 CWCs starting from 2006, India U19s won three and finished as runners up on two other instances. India won 35 out of the 42 matches in those tournaments and has a win-loss ratio of 5.000 which is nearly twice of the next best team Pakistan (29-11; 2.636).

India Under-19s warmed up for the upcoming edition of Youth CWC with an ODI series win against South Africa U19s. India took 2-0 lead in the 3-match Youth ODI series before losing the last match by 5 wickets where they rested most of their key bowling options. It was the first defeat of India U19s in South Africa since the 1998 CWC and have won 12 games in a row in this period. In mid-2019, India extended their winning streak in the Youth ODI format on England soil to 13 wins before it ended.

A total of 12 nations have hosted Youth ODIs but India Under-19s featured in only ten of those thus far. They have not played in both West Indies and Zimbabwe where a very less number of matches took place till date. India recorded the best winning streak in Youth ODIs in seven out of the ten countries. The longest winning streak for any team in a country in this format is held by India as they won 20 consecutive Youth ODIs between 2005 and 2013 at home.

The next best streak is Bangladesh’s 15 successive wins also at home across 2015 and 2016; during the time where they hosted the U19 World Cup. Bangladesh won 10 successive Youth ODIs at home between 2004 and 2005. India’s best streak in Bangladesh is of 6 matches that they won between 1989 and 2004 which is the longest streak for a visiting team in this country. New Zealand and UAE are the other two countries where India have not recorded the best winning streak.

They won each of their last six Youth ODIs in NZ on their way to winning the U19 CWC in 2018. India will get a chance to go past Australia’s streak of 10 successive wins in New Zealand between 2002 and 2010. South Africa’s six wins during the 2014 Under-19s CWC makes up the longest winning streak in the UAE going past India’s 5 consecutive wins also in 2014. The longest streak in Pakistan is jointly held by India and Pakistan. India won their last seven Youth ODIs but didn’t get a chance to extend that since 2003.

(Stats as on December 31, 2019)