Pujara Man of the Tournament and leading run-scorer at ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup
India's Cheteshwar Pujara has been confirmed as the man of the tournament at the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka.
The right-handed opening batsman, who also finished as the leading run-scorer in the 16-team event with 349 runs, polled nine votes during the course of the tournament to finish clear two points clear of Bangladesh duo captain Mushfiqur Rahim and all-rounder Mehrab Hossain.
Behind them were seven players on six points including Anwer Ali Khan of Pakistan, who moved into that group after his man of the match performance in the Super League final against India on Sunday when he took 5-35 to spearhead his side's 38-run win.
Name - MOM Points
Cheteshwar Pujara (India) - 9
Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh) - 7
Mehrab Hossain (Bangladesh) - 7
Eoin Morgan (Ireland) - 6
Moises Henriques (Australia) - 6
Gaurav Dhiman (India) - 6
Dean Elgar (South Africa) - 6
Kanishka Chaugai (Nepal) - 6
Riaz Kail (Pakistan) - 6
Anwer Ali Khan (Pakistan) - 6
The reserve umpire at each match awarded points on a 3-2-1 basis with his choice as the man of the match getting three points, his second choice getting two points and his third pick receiving one point.
Those points were then added up to produce the man of the tournament.
All matches, including the Super League final, were included in the voting process and Pujara received a crystal trophy after that match for his feat of topping the list.
Ahead of that match only India's Gaurav Dhiman and Riaz Kail of Pakistan were in a position to catch Pujara but with both players failing in the final it left Pujara clear of the field despite his second ball duck.
Pujara finished with a batting average of 116.33 and his run-tally included an unbeaten 129 against the West Indies in the Super League quarter-final, one of only five individual hundreds by batsmen in the 44 matches played.
Immediately behind Pujara in the batting list was a player from an Associate country, Ireland captain Eoin Morgan. He made 338 runs including 124 against New Zealand in the quarter-final of the Plate Championship.
The player with the top strike-rate among the leading batsmen was Dhiman whose 222 runs was scored at 125.42 runs per hundred balls.
Henriques finished as the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 16 wickets in five matches but he was run close for that honour by Anwer Ali Khan, whose five-wicket haul in the Super League final took him to 15 victims, albeit in one more match than Henriques.
Anwer Ali Khan and Jamshaid Ahmed formed the most potent new-ball partnership in the tournament as they shared 29 wickets between them, one reason why Pakistan coach Mansoor Rana singled them out as the major factor behind his side's retention of the trophy.