Benoni (South Africa), Feb 12

Four Indian players, including skipper Uday Saharan and star batter Musheer Khan, featured in the U-19 World Cup’s Team of the Tournament announced by the ICC today. Batter Sachin Dhas and spinner Saumy Pandey are the other Indian players in the team. India finished runners-up after a 79-run loss to Australia in the title clash, which brought to an end their unbeaten run in the tournament.

Australia captain Hugh Weibgen is given the honour of leading the line-up. Champions Australia have three players in the line-up, South Africa have two names — including Player of the Tournament Kwena Maphaka —and West Indies and Pakistan have one player each.

India’s Musheer takes the number three spot as the only batter to register two centuries during the competition. Top run-scorer for the event, Saharan played a pivotal role in India’s dominance through to the final.

Dhas also earns a place in the team for his ability to relieve pressure situations and the innovative and aggressive strokeplay. Completing the line-up is Pandey, whose left-arm spin yielded 18 wickets — the most by any spinner in the tournament.

Future is bright: Kanitkar

India U-19 head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar is confident that at least a couple of players from the 2024 batch will go on to play for the senior team. “Definitely (the future of India is very bright). As a bowling side and as a batting side, there have been standout performances by quite a few players. They have shown maturity in tough situations and that bodes well for Indian cricket,” Kanitkar said.