FTX By the Numbers: India's unbeaten run, sixes galore
The 14th edition of the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup is underway in the West Indies. After the completion of the group stage, eight teams to qualify for the Super League are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The remaining eight teams Canada, Ireland, PNG, Scotland, UAE, Uganda, West Indies and Zimbabwe will play in the Plate League.
We take a look at some interesting stats and facts from the 24 matches in the Group Stage.
India’s dominance
India once again remained unbeaten in the group stage and will lock horns against the defending champions Bangladesh at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on January 29 in the Super League Quarter Final.
For the fifth U19 World Cup in a row, India stayed undefeated in the group stage. The last time they lost a group game in the tournament was in 2012 when West Indies got the better of them in Townsville.
Match Highlights | IND v UGA | ICC U19 Men’s CWC 2022
Since that defeat, India have won 29 out of 32 matches in the U19 World Cups, including two finals in 2012 and 2018. The three defeats came in the final in 2016 and 2020 and in the quarter final in 2014.
India finished the group stage of the ongoing event with their biggest win in the tournament beating Uganda by 326 runs at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy. That happened after they scored 405-5 in 50 overs, their highest ever and the fifth highest total overall in the U19 World Cups.
Prior to that India also beat Ireland and South Africa in Guyana.
The centuries record
South Africa batters know a thing or two about the art of building innings even at a young level. They scored two centuries in the group stage – 111 not out against Ireland by the captain George Van Heerden and 104 against Uganda by Dewald Brevis, aka Baby AB due to his batting resemblance with the legend AB de Villiers.
George Van Heerden’s sensational century | SA v IRE | ICC U19 Men’s CWC 2022
Van Heerden’s 111 was South Africa’s 19th century in the Under-19 Cricket World Cups, the most by any team. Australia and England are next with their batters scoring 17 tons each in the tournament history followed by India and West Indies (both 16).
At its halfway stage, the 2022 edition has witnessed 10 centuries. That is already two more than the number of 100s scored in the previous edition in South Africa in 2020.
The tournament record is 25 centuries which were scored in New Zealand in 2018.
FTX Best Fielding: Week 2 | ICC U19 Men’s CWC 2022
The five-fors record
While South Africa are known for centuries, Pakistan youngsters have a history of producing five-wicket hauls in the U19 World Cup. They have continued the trend in this tournament too.
Awais Ali, the right-arm seamer, started Pakistan’s campaign with 6 wickets for 56 runs against Zimbabwe at Diego Martin Sporting Complex whereas Mohammad Shehzad, who is in the team primarily for his batting, accounted for 5 wickets for 7 runs with his seam bowling against PNG at Queen’s Park Oval.
Awais Ali stars with the ball | PAK v AFG | ICC U19 Men’s CWC 2022
Pakistan bowlers have taken 12 five-wicket hauls in Under-19 Cricket World Cups, by far the most by any team. The next best are India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe (all having 7 five-fors each).
The best bowling figures for Pakistan in the tournament belongs to Shaheen Afridi (6-15 against Ireland in 2018). Four years after playing in the U19 World Cup, Afridi is now winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Player of the Year 2021.
Sixes galore
178 sixes have been hit in 24 matches so far. The sixes/match ratio (7.4) at this stage is the highest for any edition of U19 World Cup. The tournament record for most sixes (244 in Bangladesh in 2016) is also expected to be broken at some stage during this tournament.
South Africa (26 maximums in three matches) have hit the most sixes followed by England and India (21 in three games).
19 of South Africa’s sixes came in one innings alone, against Ireland at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy. Australia (21 against Kenya in Dunedin in 2002) are the only team to hit more sixes in an innings in the history of the U19 World Cup.
Raj Bawa’s record ton | IND v UGA | ICC U19 Men’s CWC 2022
Two batters, India’s Raj Bawa and South Africa’s Van Heerden, hit 8 sixes in an innings against Uganda and Ireland respectively creating an U19 World Cup record for their respective teams.
Bawa’s eight sixes came in a knock of 162 not out, the highest individual score for India in the tournament going past Shikhar Dhawan’s tally of 155 not out against Scotland in Dhaka in 2004.
The comeback
Uganda are playing in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup after a gap of 16 years. Their previous appearances in the tournament were in Sri Lanka in 2006 and Bangladesh in 2004.
Although they didn’t win any match in the group stage, their captain Pascal Murungi, who idolizes Ben Stokes, has put up some impressive performances. The Fort Portal-born all-rounder has taken 8 wickets in three matches at an average of 21.75 and also scored 103 runs at 34.33.
Uganda will be banking on their captain in the Plate round too where they meet UAE in the Quarter Final at Queen’s Park Oval on Tuesday.
"Everything is possible" - Uganda relishing their experience at the ICC Men's U19 CWC
Murungi was a key figure behind his team’s qualification for this tournament. When Uganda needed to win by a big margin against Tanzania in the Africa Region Qualifier last year, he took 4 wickets for 9 runs to bowl out Tanzania for 51.
The other nations competing for the one African spot in the U19 Cricket World Cup were Namibia, Rwanda and Nigeria.
Cricket is getting popular in Uganda. Their Men’s team is ranked Number 25 in the ICC T20 Rankings whereas Women are at Number 19.