Five Indians in ICC’S World Cup XI
MUMBAI: As many as five players from the victorious Indian cricket team have been named in the ICC’S Team of Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2018, post their record fourth title win on Saturday.
India created history by becoming the first country to win ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup for the fourth time, when they crushed Australia by eight wickets in yet another dominant show, at Mount Maunganui in Tauranga, New Zealand.
India U-19 captain Prithvi Shaw, whose team remained unbeaten in the tournament, however, was not awarded the captaincy, which was given to South Africa’s Raynard van Tonder. His compatriot Wandile Makwetu was named the wicketkeeper.
“Van Tonder, who aggregated 348 runs in six matches including a highest score of 143 against Kenya, was selected to lead ahead of other captains for his better cricket acumen,” the ICC said in a release.
The top three spots have been awarded to the dominating Indian trio of Shaw, Manjot Kalra and Shubman Gill. While Kalra emerged hero of India’s win with a fabulous 101* in the final, Gill had scores of 63, 90*,
ICC TEAM OF U19 WORLD CUP 2018
86, 102* and 31 as he amassed 372 runs.
Gill finished second behind West Indies’ Alick Athanaze, who topped the batting charts with 418 runs in six matches. Athanaze, however, was named 12th man.
Anukul Roy, who finished with most wickets in the U-19 World Cup, is also in the ICC’S team with young speedster Kamlesh Nagarkoti being the fifth Indian player.
South Africa, who finished fifth, have another player in Gerald Coetzee featuring in the eleven.
Australia, who did make it to the final, do not have any of their players in the ICC team.
Pakistan’s lanky left-handed pacer Shaheen Afridi found a place thanks to his 12 wickets in the tournament.
Finn Allen from New Zealand and Afghanistan’s Qais Ahmed are the other remaining players. Prithvi Shaw (India); Manjot Kalra (India); Shubman Gill (India); Finn Allen (New Zealand); Raynard van Tonder (South Africa, captain); Wandile Makwetu (wicketkeeper) (South Africa); Anukul Roy (India); Kamlesh Nagarkoti (India); Gerald Coetzee (South Africa); Qais Ahmad (Afghanistan); Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan).
12th man: Alick Athanaze (West Indies)
Match officials sticking to the letter, rather than spirit, of International Cricket Council (ICC) rules led to a farcical end in the second ODI after India batsmen, needing two runs to win, were asked by the umpires to go in for lunch.
India skipper Virat Kohli was bemused after umpires Aleem Dar and Adrian Holdstock called the interval.
South Africa, down and out, too wanted to finish it. India began their chase after just a 10-minute break as South Africa’s innings had ended with more than 30 minutes left for the scheduled innings break.
DRAGGING ON
If a win is near, officials can delay lunch by 15 minutes, but Dar and Holdstock insisted the players go in as that time had elapsed. But it led to heavy social media criticism.
Virender Sehwag poked fun, tweeting “Umpires treating Indian batsmen like PSU Bank treat customers. Lunch ke baad aana.”
Michael Holding, doing TV commentary, slammed t he umpires and ICC match referee Andy Pycroft for the rigid stance.
“They (ICC) want to make the game attractive but this was a ridiculous decision,” the Caribbean pace great said.
In the end, India took three deliveries after the break to seal victory.
It’s very difficult (to play Chahal and Kuldeep), unless we can call them into our nets. We’ve got a few net bowlers who are a bit slow. D BENKENSTEIN, SA batting coach