Unbeaten so far in the tournament, a confident and all-round India will be overwhelming favourites against Afghanistan in the semi-final of the ICC Under-19 World Cup here on Wednesday.
India are the most successful team in the history of the event, having annexed the title five times (2000, 2008, 2012, 2018, 2022), followed by Australia, who have won the trophy four times.
Come Wednesday, India will look to take one step forward towards a record sixth title. India have had a great run in the tournament, having won all their five matches quite comfortably, including a 58-run win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Super Six stage.
Afghanistan too has had a fairly good tournament, winning four out of their five games, their only loss coming against Sri Lanka by four wickets. Going by form and overall composition, India will hold an edge over the Afghans in the knock-out game.
Wicket-keeper batter Abhigyan Kundu has been the star performer for India with the bat as the left-hander has so far amassed 199 runs from five games with two half centuries to his name.
Big-hitting opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (196 runs in 5 matches with 2 fifties) too has been in good form but the team management would want him to convert his half-centuries into three-figure scores.
All-rounder Vihaan Malhotra (172 runs from 5 games) is the other Indian batter to look out for. He struck the lone century (109 not out) against Zimbabwe in group stages.
5
No of wins for India at the 2026 ICC U-19 World Cup so far
10-2
India and Afghanistan’s head-to-head record across 12 Youth ODIs since 2010
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