India is a land where there is no dearth of quality cricketers, thanks to the country’s rich cricketing culture. The seeds of tough mentality and competitiveness are sown from the Under-19 level.
The players show the signs of promise at the India U19 circuit and then are expected to convert the promise into results. However, there are many who first were termed as the ‘next big thing’ but could not live upto the hype. In this article, we have mentioned India’s 4 U19 cricket stars who were supposed to make it big but have failed to do so.
1. Unmukt Chand
Rising to fame after India’s historic win against Australia in the final of the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, Unmukt Chand was supposed to be the next Virat Kohli. Having played an unbeaten 111-run knock in a thriller, Chand gave a glimpse of his temperament and skills.
However, the 28-year-old batsman witnessed a decline in his performance and could never become the kind of player fans expected him to be. In his Indian Premier League (IPL) career, Chand represented three franchises but again his mediocre performance did no good to him. Unmukt recently brought an end to his cricketing career for India and moved to the USA to play in the Major League Cricket.
2. Kamlesh Nagarkoti
Clocking over 145 kmph in 2018 U-19 World Cup, Kamlesh Nagarkoti’s raw pace combined with sharp accuracy drew many eyeballs towards him. Nagarkoti’s impressive performance in the tournament earned him an IPL contract as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spent 3.2 crore out of their purse to acquire the pacer’s services.
Owing to injury issues, Nagarkoti missed out of the 2018 and 2019 seasons of the tournament. Since then, life has not been easy for the youngster. Nagarkoti did play for KKR in the last two editions of the tournament but cannot impress many with his performance, having taken only 5 wickets in 11 matches.
3. Sarfaraz Khan
Sarfaraz Khan was India’s premier batsman in the 2014 and 2016 U-19 World Cups, scoring 211 and 355 runs respectively. He once owned the record of the highest score (439) in the Harris Shield inter-school tournament. The talented batsman made it to the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) squad in 2015 but failed to make a mark in the tournament.
Again, he is one of the many cricketers that fell prey to constant injuries. After leaving RCB, he joined Kings XI Punjab but has been an utter disappointment there as well.
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4. Baba Aparajith
Baba Aparajith was an important member of India’s U19 squad for the 2012 World Cup. Along with many others, he had a big hand in India’s successful triumph. Having scored 171 runs and taken 5 wickets in the tournament, Aparajith was seen as an all-rounder next to Ravindra Jadeja.
Few months down the line, Aparajith made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu. There is nothing to boast about his first-class record as he has amassed 3971 runs and taken 48 wickets in 80 matches. However, he still got an IPL contract from 2 franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiant, but debuted for neither of them.