Indian fans felt the pain of the U19 Asia Cup disappointment very deeply, especially since the team had been the best side of the tournament from beginning to end. A nonsensical loss to Pakistan U19 in the final and the aspirations of the juniors winning the trophy after India’s Asia Cup 2025 victory were instantly dashed.
But, the defeat was indeed a harsh one, yet the young guns in the blue maintained their pride throughout the tournament, and we will discuss in a short recap how they shone to indicate a bright future.
The group stage dominance of India U19
IND U19 against UAE U19
India was put in group A of the tournament and was first scheduled to play against UAE U19 on December 12. The match saw the boys overpower their opponents by a massive 234 runs. Vaibhav Suryavanshi showed his power early on with an outstanding 171 off 95 balls while Vihaan Malhotra and Aaron George added 69 down the order.
The bowling unit did a decent job, with Deepesh Devendran getting two wickets. Not great though as the UAE still managed to score 199 runs without getting fully dismissed, which had been the case with bowlers like Khilan Patel, Henil Patel, and Kishan Singh in the squad.
Team Performance Report: 7/10
IND U19 against PAK U19
The second match was the grand epic, against the unannounced arch-nemesis, Pakistan, on December 14. The contest’s intimidation might have had the better of the Boys in Green as they lost the match by 90 runs.
Suryavanshi failed, and Aaron George hit his way through 85 runs, having 12 boundaries to his name. For a No. 7, Kanishk Chouhan played a solid knock of 46 runs to carry India to 240 in their first innings.
The bowling unit was superb on that day. Kanishk Chouhan and Devendran took 3 wickets each to disrupt the top and middle order, and before Pakistan could realize, they were already 5 down for 77 in just 23.6 overs. In 42 overs, Pakistan was all out for 150 runs which gave their rival a clean victory.
Team Performance Report: 9/10
IND U19 vs. MAL U19
The following challenge was against Malaysia and Abhigyan Kundu was out of the syllabus. In the first innings, a daunting 408 runs were scored by India and Malaysia was left helpless. Suryavanshi’s quick fifty came in 26 balls while Kundu’s record innings of 209 came off 125 balls with the company of Vedant Trivedi who scored 90, thereby fooling their opponent.
Devendran came to take the whole of Malaysia’s batting order with a possibility of 5 wickets as Udhav Mohan, Khilan patel and others helped the clean-up of the rest of the team to win by a huge margin of 315 runs. This was an easy victory and India was ready to meet their opponent in the first semi-final after being the Group A points table leader.
Team Performance Report: 8.5/10
The semi-final against Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka batted first and the spells of Henil Patel and Kanishk Chouhan restricted them to just 138 runs. It was a modest total, but the work was much cleaner to finish off the tail, but yes, it was a semi-final and the pressure was huge.
Still, India found themselves in a difficult situation early into their batting as both openers went out making India stand on a scary 2/25 at the end of 3 overs. But then Aaron George and Vihaan Malhotra came on, after their partnership India was past the target within 18 overs.
An all-around and impactful team performance that saw consistent contributions from the entire bowling unit as well as the batting unit, except for the opening scare.
Team Performance Report: 8/10
The final against Pakistan
The grand battle took place at ICCA Dubai on 21st of December and the unexpected took place. A team that had been on a winning streak was totally disheartened while the other team, which had stumbled a lot, was handed the trophy.
Sameer Minhas, the 19-year-old opening batter for Pakistan, went insane with his 113-ball 172 runs and was well supported by Ahmed Hussain’s 56 runs. This led to an above-par score of 347 runs for Pakistan. Even though Deepesh Devendran of India took 3 wickets, the falls were not enough to shake Pakistan’s confidence as they continued their march with Minhas at the back.
You can call it performance pressure or just bad luck, but India’s batting simply fell apart at the very start with captain Ayush Mhatre getting out in the third over and Suryavanshi in the 4th. The middle order and the tail did not even put up a fight as the Boys in Blue were dismissed for just 156 runs in the chase, thus giving Pakistan their moment of glory.
Team Performance Report: 6/10
Conclusion: The boys played well, but still…
This is a big lesson for the youngsters who will eventually represent the senior national team. The game can change any day and any moment, even if you are the best of the lot. Having the calmness, the patience, and the temperament to go through every storm in every high-pressure situation is the key.
Still, although India U19 performed well in the group stage, the wins did not translate into a trophy. The Boys in Green will be enjoying their victory until they meet again in the Play-Off of the U19 World Cup, which commences on January 15 and where the next duel will be.
