Every member of the India U-19 side played their part in taking their team to the third consecutive final of the ICC U-19 World Cup.

India finished at the top of Group A having won all of their matches in the group stage and then, went on to beat strong units like Australia and Pakistan in the quarterfinal and semi-final respectively to make their way to the final showdown.

However, the players who were at the forefront of each of these victories with their contributions are India’s opening batsmen Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyansh Saxena. The duo gave India solid starts in each of the matches and thus laid the platform for their victories.

They opened in all matches except the one against Japan U-19 and their opening stands in each of those games read 66, 115*, 35 and 176*. That amounts to a total of 392 runs at a mammoth average of 196.

In fact, not only in this tournament, the Jaiswal-Saxena pair has been one of the most successful opening pair in youth ODIs ever since the last U-19 World Cup in 2018. They have amassed a total of 678 runs during this period at a mindboggling average of 96.85. That’s the second highest tally of runs for any opening pair during this period and their average is also the best among these pairs.

Overall, they have batted in 12 innings together scoring 856 runs at an excellent average of 85.60 once again. This tally is once again the sixth highest in youth ODIs among all batting pairs. So, these numbers sum up how the duo’s success has been one of the main reasons behind India’s journey to the final of this tournament. Not only they started with the tag of the favourites but also carried it perfectly to make it to the finals. Now, they are just one step behind from laying their hands on the coveted trophy.

Written by: Prasenjit Dey