Mohammad Kaif relives India’s 2000 U-19 World Cup win with throwback pictures

On the anniversary of India’s 2000 U-19 World Cup triumph, Mohammad Kaif, who led the team, celebrated the occasion by sharing some throwback pictures. Taking to his official Instagram account, an emotional Mohammad Kaif wrote:

“Time flies and how!”

The 40-year-old also termed it a “huge honor” to lead a side full of future India superstars. The 2000 U-19 World Cup triumph is significant since it was the first time India had lifted the prestigious trophy.

India defeated hosts Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final at Colombo. Reetinder Singh Sodhi was the man of the match in the final. He conceded only 26 runs in his 10 overs and made an unbeaten 39 with the bat as India chased down 179.

Yuvraj Singh was the man of the series for scoring 203 runs at a strike rate of 103.57, and picking up 12 wickets at an average of 11.50.

Graeme Smith, who would go on to captain South Africa, was the leading run-getter in the tournament with 348 runs.

From the Indian team that featured in the 2000 U-19 World Cup final, skipper Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj, Sodhi, Ajay Ratra and Venugopal Rao went on to play for India with varying degrees of success.

Sri Lanka’s line-up for the final also featured future international cricketers like Jehan Mubarak, Thilina Kandamby and Kaushal Lokuarachchi.

What happened to Mohammad Kaif’s champion U-19 World Cup squad?

From the players who represented India in the 2000 U-19 World Cup, Yuvraj went on to become the biggest star.

Making his debut in the same year, he went on to play 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is for India, playing stellar roles in India’s World Cup wins in 2007 (T20) and 2011 (50 overs).

Mohammad Kaif also had a reasonable international career, but could not fulfil his potential due to form issues. He ended up playing 13 Tests and 125 ODIs for India. However, the former cricketer is renowned as one of India’s greatest fielders.

.. to win an U19 World cup. He was the second highest run scorer (170) for India in the tournament just behind Yuvraj (203).----💥The inception💥The U19 WC heroics didn't go waste as Kaif was soon given the test cap as he debut against SA in Banguluru in the yr 2000.5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/Jq5NtbHpAK

— Abhinandan Nahata (@cricketgyani_an) June 7, 2020

The likes of Sodhi, Ratra and Rao failed to taste much success at the international level while Ravneet Ricky (340 runs), who was one of the biggest success stories for India with the bat in the U-19 event, failed to make it big.