South Africa U19 Pacer you are the cats He was named Player of the Tournament at the 2024 U19 World Cup. you are the cats He picked up a total of 21 wickets in six games and was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament. Maphaka left behind Ubaid Shah, Saumy Pandey, Musheer Khan, Jewel Andrew, Hugh Weibgen, Uday Saharan and teammate Steve Stolk.
you are the cats He was just one wicket away from leveling with Bangladesh’s Enamul Haque Jr with 22 wickets in a single edition of the U19 World Cup. Maphaka also became the first bowler to pick three fifers in a single edition of the U19 World Cup. Maphaka has joined the elite list of players who have been awarded Player of the Tournament following the U19 World Cup.
Before Kwena Maphaka, South African Dewald Brevis won the award in the previous edition for being the tournament’s top scorer. Greats like Shubman Gill, Tim Southee, Shikhar Dhawan, Aiden Markram and Yuvraj Singh have won the Player of the Tournament award respectively in previous editions of the U19 World Cup.
Kwena Maphaka elected Player of the Tournament at the 2024 U19 World Cup
Kwena Maphaka has proven to be one of the main finds of the U19 World Cup 2024. Maphaka has shown that he has a bright future and can bowl at serious pace. Maphaka could soon join the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje in the national team and become South Africa’s biggest wicket-taker.
Coming back to the final of the tournament, it was Australia who were able to defeat India in the final in Benoni and won their fourth U-19 World Cup title. India, playing in its seventh U19 World Cup final and fifth in a row overall, failed to win its sixth U19 World Cup trophy. Australia Mahli Beardman was the Player of the Match and finished the match with figures of 3/15.
Australia amassed a total of 253/7 batting first, with Harjas Singh top-scoring with 55 runs off 64 balls. With the ball, Indian bowler Raj Limbani stole three wickets to lead India. Oliver Peake and captain Hugh Weibgen, who played innings of 48 and 46* runs respectively, have made significant contributions apart from Harjas.
India lost an early wicket on Arshin Kulkarni for three runs while chasing the target. The team tried to bounce back with some more runs from Musheer Khan and Adarsh Singh but Musheer was also out for 22 runs. The other batsmen were dismissed cheaply and could not hold the crease for long. With a bit of grace, Adarsh Singh and Murugan Abhishek scored 47 and 42 runs in their respective innings. Mahli Beardman and Raf MacMillan, who took three wickets each, were Australia’s two best bowlers.
Australia was once again the reason for the dismay of Indian fans. The Australians defeated India in the 2023 ODI World Cup final last year and the same script was followed in the U19 World Cup final. The Indian team also dominated in the CWC 2023 and went undefeated, while in the U19 World Cup, the Indian U19 team was ruthless and went undefeated before the final.